Apple is about to send in the first in a series of key replacements for its current Power Mac lineup. The Power Mac 8100/110 is expected to provide dramatic performance improvements that Apple hopes will leave the Pentium behind.
Apple will reportedly introduce the new model next week, but it will ship in limited quantities. It will be based on a 110-MHz processor, although its Level 2 cache will remain at 256 Kbytes. Apple will stock it with 16 Mbytes of RAM and a 2-Gbyte hard disk, much more disk space than in existing 8100 configurations.
"It's a real barn-burner," said one source who has used the model. "Anyone doing serious graphics work will want one." Tests performed with Ziff-Davis Benchmark Operations' MacBench 1.1 and obtained by MacWEEK show a 23 percent improvement in processor speed and 32 percent improvement in floating-point calculations when compared to an 8100/80.
More surprising was the huge leap in video performance that these benchmarks indicate in the 8100/110. Its already high-performance video subsystem gets an overall 60 percent speed boost, with some tests performing as much as 80 percent faster with the 110-MHz chip.
Users will reportedly have to pay a premium for all that power and could end up waiting to get it. The sole configuration of the 8100/110 will sell for just less than $6,000; the most expensive 8100/80 model, with 16 Mbytes of RAM and a 1-Gbyte drive, has an estimated street price of $4,900.
The new configuration will not be available for several weeks after its debut, sources said. Even then, it will reportedly be in very limited supply. "Apple will make sure the press-affiliated labs get hold of units, and the rest of us will have to fight for them," one source joked.
Apple has reportedly released test systems of the 8100 running as fast as 120 MHz, but because of sporadic problems and limited availability of those chips, the company decided on the 110-MHz model.
Sources said one reason Apple is rushing the configuration out the door -- despite an inability to deliver enough units to fill expected demand -- is the company's desire to have the personal computer with the fastest CPU on the market.
"Some people don't realize an 80-MHz Power Mac is faster than a 90-MHz Pentium," one source said. "For those people making raw comparisons, the 110-MHz number will make the Mac more attractive."
At January's Macworld Expo in San Francisco, Apple will reportedly introduce new models of the other two Power Macs. The 6100/60 will become a 6100/66 and the 7100/66 will jump up to a 7100/80. Their prices are not expected to increase.
Apple declined to comment.
MacWEEK 10.24.94
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(c) Copyright 1994 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
News: Apple posts record revenues
Gains fueled by Power Mac sales
By Jon Swartz
After nine months of sputtering profits caused by an overhaul of its product line, eroding margins and PowerBook shortages, Apple is hitting on all cylinders. The company last week reported its biggest sales quarter ever and an immense jump in profits.
Apple's fourth-quarter sales were $2.49 billion, up 16 percent from $2.14 billion in the same quarter a year ago. Meanwhile, profits for the three-month period ended Sept. 30 increased more than 40 times, to $114.7 million from $2.7 million last year.
Annual revenues rose 16 percent, to $9.2 billion from $7.9 billion a year ago. Profits were $310.2 million, up 258 percent from $86.6 million in fiscal year 1993.
"There are a lot of happy folks down here," Apple USA President Jim Buckley said from the company's national sales conference in Atlanta last week. "There's been a lot of whooping and hollering."
According to analysts, Apple has plenty of reasons to celebrate.
> Power Macs led an across-the-board surge in Mac sales. Unit shipments of the RISC-based machines topped 250,000 during the quarter, bringing total shipments to 600,000 since the RISC line was introduced in March.
"It took big business several months to fully evaluate Power Macs, but we're seeing a number of sites beginning to buy machines," said Chris LeTocq, director of software research at Computer Intelligence/InfoCorp of La Jolla, Calif. "I expect the momentum to carry over for several more quarters."
One recent Power Mac convert is a Northeast-based financial institution that requested anonymity. The company has budgeted the purchase of several hundred Power Macs next year because it was impressed with the product's networking capabilities.
> Total Mac shipments for the quarter eclipsed the 1 million mark for the second time in Apple's 17-year history. The company reportedly sold 200,000 Quadra 630 models, and large business sites gobbled up what PowerBooks they could get their hands on, industry observers said.
"September was [Apple USA's] biggest month ever," Buckley said. "All of our product lines sold well. Business sales were exceptionally strong, and consumer and higher-education sales were good."
> PowerBook 500 shortages have dissipated, resulting in the availability of the popular -- but at times scarce -- 540c model, according to one major Mac distributor.
"We expect [PowerBook 500 supplies] to be in pretty good shape for the quarter," an Apple spokeswoman said.
CII's LeTocq said individual buyers are the big winners with the availability of PowerBooks. "We'll probably see increased sales here, now that Apple is making more portables," he said.
> Gross margins crept up to 27.2 percent, compared with 25.7 percent in the same quarter a year ago. By comparison, Intel Corp. last week said its margins slipped 7.3 percent, to 55.5 percent, during its recently completed third quarter.
Buckley credited the rise in Apple's bottom line to a revamped product line that sold in greater numbers and at higher prices. "This is quite a different story from what happened earlier this year," he said.
For the past year, Apple has been in a price-cutting war with makers of Intel-standard machines while attempting to reduce an inventory bloated with older products. The strategy has resulted in a record number of Mac shipments, but until this quarter Apple reported scant profits.
Ultimately, LeTocq said, the strategy paid off. While Apple's margins took a short-term hit, he said its inventory is "in much better shape than either Compaq's or IBM's."
Apple said it now has $1.09 billion in inventory, down from $1.5 billion a year ago and less than half the $2.3 billion in inventory reported by Compaq Computer Corp. last week.
MacWEEK 10.24.94
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News: AOS ready to run with Sprint
By James Staten
To extend its reach into the emerging on-line information market, Apple Online Services will become a separate subsidiary of Apple -- with the help of two telecom friends.
According to sources, the agreement, to be announced this year, will result in Sprint Corp. of Westwood, Kan., and US West Information Systems Inc. of Denver sharing a 20 percent stake in AOS. Sprint owns SprintNet, the X.25 network used to access AOS' consumer-based commercial on-line service, eWorld. US West has little presence in on-line services. While the company has been a minor investor in France Telecom's Minitel system, sources said US West is eager to gain a presence in the U.S. on-line industry.
Despite appearances, the alliance is not intended to boost eWorld's profitability, one source said. AOS reportedly lost money during Apple's fiscal 1994. However, negotiations to create the partnership have been going on for many months.
Sprint had been reported as the sole outside investor in the subsidiary, which was scheduled to be announced earlier this year (see MacWEEK, May 9, Page 1). Sources said problems with eWorld's launch and subsequent growth delayed the agreement.
Gary Arlen, president of Arlen Communications Inc., a market research firm in Bethesda, Md., said the new partners' investment in eWorld may be more of a marketing tactic. "This potentially gives US West access to customers in areas [its phone services] do not reach." Sources confirmed Arlen's speculation, saying that most of the financial investment will be used to widen eWorld's marketing efforts and boost its presence in an increasingly competitive market.
As of last week, eWorld reportedly had more than 36,000 subscribers after 100 days of operation, far from its initial goal of 100,000 for fiscal '94, ended Sept. 30. That projection was reportedly based on several plans that did not come to fruition, such as the merging of AppleLink's 50,000 paying subscribers and bundling eWorld clients with Apple's entire Macintosh product line. In addition, AOS missed the projected launch date of January by six months.
The fact that only 25 percent of Macintoshes shipped in the past four months included eWorld client software was especially damaging, sources said. However, this issue was recently resolved. And, while subscriptions from bundling fell short, memberships from other efforts exceeded expectations, according to sources.
Ilene Hoffman, a Needham, Mass.-based volunteer for the service who is responsible for welcoming new members, said she noticed the biggest increase when eWorld recently lowered its rates (see MacWEEK, Sept. 19, Page 12). "Every day I'm greeting about eight to 10 new people, and there are 40 of us assigned as greeters," she said.
Jim Merritt, manager of technical support for Aladdin Systems Inc. and postmaster for the company's eWorld forum, echoed Hoffman's comments. "During the summer we were only getting a few inquiries a week, but now the traffic is in the double digits on a daily basis," he said.
eWorld should also see additional growth through its aggressive overseas expansion, said Mark Frieser, senior editor of Interactive Content, an on-line services newsletter based in New York. The service is available in Canada and the United Kingdom; it is slated to open in Australia in November and Japan by year-end.
On the other hand, analysts noted that the service must address several shortcomings, such as the lack of a Windows client, before it will gain mainstream acceptance.
"You really can't have a service that caters to only one platform and expect it to be successful," said Ross Rubin, the New York-based editor of "eWorld: The Official Guide for Macintosh Users." Sources said AOS expects to ship a Windows client in May.
Apple, Sprint and US West declined to comment.
MacWEEK 10.24.94
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(c) Copyright 1994 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
News: Iomega drive to put new spin on storage
By David Morgenstern and Mark Hall
Seeking to zip up the market for removable storage, Iomega Corp. this week unveiled a new Bernoulli mechanism with an expected street price of less than $200.
The Zip Drive is expected to ship in the first quarter of 1995 and will be offered with both parallel and SCSI interfaces. It will use a new, 3.5-inch floppy cartridge manufactured by Fuji Photo Film Ltd., with capacities of 25 Mbytes and 100 Mbytes, costing $9.95 and $19.95, respectively.
The drive has a 30-millisecond average access time and an average data transfer rate of 1 Mbyte per second. Caching drivers can improve its transfer speed, Iomega said.
The Zip's performance as a hard drive is well below today's low-end access times of about 15 milliseconds, according to Dennis Waid, president of Peripherals Research Corp. of Santa Barbara, Calif. "But a lot of users won't notice the difference," he said.
The Iomega drive will come with Zip Tools, a formatting and file management utility based on technology from an unnamed third party.
The company said that the paperback-size drive uses industry-standard head components, which lowers its production costs. Its integrated housing and carriage design also reduces cost. The unit requires an external AC power adapter; a battery-powered version is expected in the second quarter of 1995.
Aside from being Iomega's first drive to use a 3.5-inch form factor, the Zip is the industry's first mechanism to break the $200 price barrier. Its introduction complicates an already crowded removable storage market consisting of SyQuest, optical, magneto-optical, high-capacity Bernoulli, rewriteable CD-ROM and tape technologies.
"At their [100-Mbyte] capacity point, they're in the club," said James Porter, president of Disk/Trend Inc. of Mountain View, Calif. "Anything below that and you're a Model T."
The Zip will be an attractive alternative platform to many current users of removable media, analysts said.
Phil Devin, chief storage analyst at Dataquest of San Jose, Calif., said: "It will be very difficult to unseat SyQuest [Technology Inc.] because they're so entrenched in service bureaus. But SyQuest is going to scramble when they see this."
Waid said, "Photoshop service bureaus will look at it closely because of the price." He added that the education market and businesses such as insurance companies that use removable storage will find the Zip attractive.
What will make the Zip more useful to high-end users, Porter said, is the planned 200-Mbyte removable discs that Iomega said will be ready later in 1995.
Iomega Corp. of Roy, Utah, can be reached at (801) 778-1000 or (800) 456-5522; fax (801) 778-3748.
MacWEEK 10.24.94
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(c) Copyright 1994 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
News: 1,200-dpi line Lexmark heats up printer race
By Matthew Rothenberg
Lexmark International Inc. this week will re-emerge in the Mac laser market with its line of low-cost printers said to produce true 1,200-by-1,200-dpi output.
The five new models in the Optra line are based on proprietary letter-size engines. According to Lexmark, firmware developed by the company allows the printers to output most 1,200-dpi images with as little as 2 Mbytes of RAM.
> The Optra R, priced at $1,749, can output 12 pages per minute at resolutions of up to 600 dpi or 8 ppm at 1,200 dpi. It ships with 2 Mbytes of RAM and a 200-sheet paper tray.
> The Optra L, at $2,299, has the same paper speeds as the R but comes with 4 Mbytes of RAM and handles 500 sheets of paper.
> The Optra Rx, which lists for $2,399, outputs 16 ppm at resolutions of up to 600 dpi and 8 ppm at 1,200 dpi. It comes with 4 Mbytes of RAM and a 200-page paper tray.
> The Optra Lx, priced at $2,999, prints at the same speeds as the Rx but has an input capacity of 500 pages.
> The Optra Lxi, listing for $3,699, includes the same 16-ppm engine as the company's Rx and Lx models. It comes with 8 Mbytes of RAM and two 500-sheet trays. While the other models ship with parallel and serial interfaces, the Optra Lxi features an Ethernet adapter in place of the serial port.
All the Optra models include a PostScript Level 2 interpreter as well as 39 Type 1 fonts and switch automatically to an enhanced HP PCL 5 emulation. The printers run on 25-MHz AMD 29030 RISC processors and can be outfitted with up to 64 Mbytes of RAM.
They can accommodate a 40-Mbyte hard disk and up to 4 Mbytes of flash memory. Users can purchase LocalTalk, Ethernet and token-ring interfaces.
Lexmark was spun out from IBM Corp. as an independent company in 1991, when Clayton, Dubilier & Rice Inc. acquired a majority stake in IBM's former printer division, based in Lexington, Ky. The Optra line represents the first models to ship under Lexmark's own logo.
"It's a new beginning for [Lexmark]," said Marco Boer, senior analyst with International Data Corp. of Framingham, Mass. "A lot of the old IBM mentality is starting to go away. Although they've been saying all the right words for the past three years, now they're starting to back them up."
Before the Optras, Boer said, Lexmark's "printers were like Volvos -- boxy but good. Now they're getting to be more like a Lexus -- a little more user-friendly in their approach. This should gain them market share, and they may finally put the squeeze on [Hewlett-Packard Co.]"
According to Boer, the Optra printers are also significant because they incorporate a laser engine that is manufactured domestically. "It's nice to see an American company start to get their act together," Boer said.
Lexmark International Inc. of Lexington, Ky., can be reached at (800) 891-0331.
MacWEEK 10.24.94
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(c) Copyright 1994 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
News: New mouse roars into market
Easy-to-grip shape, macros ease work
By David Morgenstern
In an effort to demonstrate that you can sell snow to Eskimos if your snow is cool enough, Kensington Microware Ltd. next week will debut the Thinking Mouse, an ergonomic four-button pointing device.
The mouse has a teardrop shape with tapered sides that the company said can reduce the stress required to move the device. Its sides are made with EasyGrip plastic that Kensington said also gives it a more secure grip.
"I suspect that people are pinching [straight-sided mice] too hard, and we're working on the assumption that less force is better," said Bob Bettendorf, a principal at the Institute for Office Ergonomics of Manchester Center, Vt. "A wraparound design gives the feeling of control."
The symmetrical physical design of the mouse and the two sets of buttons can accommodate right- and left-handed users. The Thinking Mouse control panel will permit multiple users to configure custom acceleration and button profiles. Users can also program application-specific settings for the mouse.
It will ship with predefined macros, including automatic movement to a dialog box's default button and the ability to jump to a user-defined position on screen. Users can also access lists of secondary tasks from a menu, including text entry of up to 256 characters with a single click.
The company said it expects the Thinking Mouse to ship in November with a street price of $99.95.
Kensington Microware Ltd. of San Mateo, Calif., can be reached at (415) 572-2700 or (800) 535-4242; fax (415) 572-9675; info@kensington.com.
MacWEEK 10.24.94
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News: Dataproducts hits printer market
Fast new Typhoon 20 laser
By Matthew Rothenberg
Dataproducts Corp. this week will introduce a 20-page-per-minute addition to its Typhoon line of high-speed laser printers.
The Typhoon 20 outputs 20 letter- or 11 tabloid-size pages per minute at user-selectable resolutions ranging from 300 to 800 dpi, Dataproducts said. The new printer is based on a Fuji Xerox engine and uses TrueRes edge-smoothing technology from DpTek Inc. of Wichita, Kan., to enhance 300- and 400-dpi output.
The device ships with Adobe PostScript Level 2 and includes Version 3.0 of Dataproducts' Virtual Printer Technology, which turns a printer into a network server that can be set up with as many as 64 different printer configurations that can be accessed on a mixed network (see MacWEEK, May 16, Page 51). The upgrade lets network administrators track resources by virtual printer, Dataproducts said.
The Typhoon 20 comes with LocalTalk and parallel interfaces as well as a SCSI port. A multiprotocol Ethernet interface is $795.
The printer runs on a 25-MHz IDT 3081 RISC processor. It has 8 Mbytes of RAM, which can be expanded to 72 Mbytes.
The Typhoon 20 costs $4,495, $5,095 and $5,295 with one, two or three 250-sheet paper trays, respectively. The two- and three-tray versions ship with Ethernet for $5,695 and $5,895, respectively.
A 100-sheet multimedia feeder costs $379, and a PostScript Level 2 fax option will be $349.
Dataproducts Corp. of Woodland Hills, Calif., can be reached at (818) 887-8000; fax (818) 887-4789.
MacWEEK 10.24.94
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News: Digital laser produces global PostScript fax
New printer outputs 12 pages per minute
By David Morgenstern
In a move that promises to expand output horizons for PostScript printer owners, Digital Equipment Corp. this week will unveil what the company said is the first laser printer to offer international PostScript fax capabilities as an option.
The DEClaser 3500, which starts at $2,099, is based on a Canon engine and can output 600 by 600 dpi to letter-size sheets at a print speed of 12 pages per minute. Digital said the printer is aimed at small- to medium-sized workgroups.
The printer supports automatic switching between Adobe PostScript Level 2 and HP PCL 5 languages. It will ship with 35 Type 1, 13 TrueType and five bit-mapped fonts.
According to Digital, the 3500 will be the first to offer Adobe Systems Inc.'s PostScript fax capabilities for international markets. North American users can send faxes from the desktop using the optional $349 fax card, while incoming faxes are output by the printer. When faxing between PostScript fax devices, the document is printed at the highest resolution available on the receiving machine. Cards offering fax for the United Kingdom, Germany and Holland will be available this fall and will cost $599, Digital said.
The printer has simultaneously active and switched bidirectional parallel and LocalTalk interfaces. It also has a slot for optional $399 multiprotocol Ethernet and $149 serial interface cards.
The 3500 uses a 20-MHz AMD RISC processor and comes with 3 Mbytes of RAM, which users can upgrade to 19 Mbytes. The company said the printer incorporates edge-sharpening and gray-scale enhancement technologies.
It offers a 250-sheet paper tray and 50-sheet manual input. An optional 500-sheet letter-size paper feeder costs $299; a 30-piece envelope feeder is $89.
Digital Equipment Corp. of Maynard, Mass., can be reached at (508) 493-5111 or (800) 777-4343; fax (508) 493-8780.
MacWEEK 10.24.94
News Page 4
(c) Copyright 1994 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
News: New MapInfo line boosts desktop mapping
Developers can query remote databases
By Rick LePage
MapInfo Corp. this month updated its line of desktop mapping software with MapInfo 3.0, MapBasic 3.0 and SQL DataLink for Macintosh.
MapInfo is aimed at business users who need to perform geographic data analysis. The company said the enhancements in Version 3.0 include better data-visualization characteristics, expanded data-analysis capabilities and an improved interface.
For instance, raster image files, such as satellite images and aerial photographs, can now be incorporated into MapInfo files. The company said it has also improved MapInfo's methods for representing data with multiple variables. The program's redistricting capabilities have also been updated.
MapBasic is a separate module that lets programmers build vertical mapping applications. The company said Version 3.0 lets developers perform remote database query and update operations, and link multiple MapInfo modules.
MapInfo's SQL DataLink module lets users connect to and access data on Oracle or Sybase databases and use that information in MapInfo applications.
MapInfo 3.0 is priced at $1,295; an upgrade from the previous version is $199 through Oct. 31 and $299 thereafter. MapBasic 3.0 is priced at $795; upgrades are $99 through Oct. 31, $199 thereafter. SQL DataLink for Macintosh is available for $595.
MapInfo, MapBasic and SQL DataLink are available for Mac and Windows systems, as well as Sun and HP-UX workstations.
MapInfo Corp. of Troy, N.Y., can be reached at (518) 285-6000; fax (518) 285-6060.
MacWEEK 10.24.94
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(c) Copyright 1994 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
News: Three apps get finances in order
By Jon Swartz
A trio of developers this month invested in the Mac market with software packages aimed at simplifying users' financing tasks.
> Meca Software Inc. shipped TaxCut HeadStart, an advanced version of TaxCut, the company's popular tax-preparation software.
The $10 program lets users organize their income tax returns electronically. Users who want to print and file tax returns must import their information into Meca's $40 TaxCut Final Federal and State editions, which will be available early next year when Internal Revenue Service-approved forms are published.
TaxCut HeadStart offers a nine-step process that guides users through preparing an error-free tax return, Meca said. It also gives information on deductions, retirement plans, depreciation methods and tax planning.
Since Meca is owned by H&R Block Inc., the tax-preparation giant gives TaxCut users free tax advice and audit assistance.
> BestWare Inc. announced M.Y.O.B. Accounting 5.0 for Macintosh, an update to its financial-planning software. The $139.95 package now includes M.Y.O.B. Analyst, which gives users instant access to budget reports, performance analyses and streamlined help tools.
Version 5.0 warns of a duplicated check, invoice or purchase order; can automatically pay bills; and lets users customize tasks such as selecting items by name or number.
The software plus payroll module is $239.95. Upgrades are $59.95 for Version 5.0 and $89.95 for the program with the payroll module.
> PowerSolutions for Business shipped PlanMaker, a $129 business-planning package that has word processing and financial forecasting capabilities. The program includes three business-plan scenarios, spanning manufacturing, retail and service industries.
Meca Software Inc. of Fairfield, Conn., is at (203) 256-5000 or (800) 288-6322; fax (203) 256-5017.
BestWare Inc. of Rockaway, N.J., is at (201) 586-2200 or (800) 322-6962; fax (201) 586-8885.
PowerSolutions for Business of St. Louis is at (314) 421-0670 or (800) 955-3337; fax (314) 421-0668.
MacWEEK 10.24.94
News Page 7
(c) Copyright 1994 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Gateways: MacHTTP Web server spins to 2.0
Better Apple events allow remote admin
By David Morgenstern
Internet publishing will be as accessible as the nearest Mac and TCP/IP connection in November when BIAP Systems ships MacHTTP 2.0, its low-cost World-Wide Web server software for 680x0- and PowerPC-based Macs.
The software, which will run on any System 7-capable model, gives Mac users a familiar platform for publishing Web pages on the Internet and lets them avoid the hardware and support costs involved with Unix-based systems, BIAP said.
"Just set it up and watch it go," said beta tester Joe Maissel, president of Sound Wire Inc. of New York, which is setting up an interactive Web-based business to sell music albums. "The administration time is nil, and there's no need to always have a full-time Unix geek on hand to make sure your security is square," he said.
The new version will expand Apple-events support, adding features based on Hypertext Markup Language+ and Common Gateway Interface standards. Server administrators will be able to create forms, interactive maps and searchable documents that connect to Mac database applications, such as AppleSearch and Claris Corp.'s FileMaker Pro, BIAP said.
According to BIAP, managers will be able to administer a Version 2.0 server from a separate Mac on the same network through scripting. The software will give status graphs for tracking server usage.
Version 2.0 will improve server speed via synchronous and asynchronous execution of external tasks. The server can be set to finish time-critical functions in the order requested or to continue serving other clients while requests are performed by external applications.
MacHTTP 2.0's authentication features will include security "realms" that enforce different levels of access for classes of users. Managers will be able to restrict access by TCP/IP address and domain name or require a password to access specific files.
The Power Mac upgrade will be 30 percent to 40 percent faster than the 680x0 version. Version 2.0 on a RISC CPU will handle 2,000 to 2,500 Web connections per hour, BIAP said. The software will support a maximum of 48 simultaneous users.
MacHTTP 2.0 will cost from $25 to $100, depending on educational or commercial use; site licenses will be available. The upgrade will be free to current users. Further information is available via the Web at http://www.uth.tmc.edu/mac_info/machttp_info.html.
BIAP Systems of Houston can be reached at cshotton@oac.hsc.uth.tmc.edu.
MacWEEK 10.24.94
Gateways Page 10
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Gateways: BBN's Internet server manages from Mac
By David Morgenstern
BBN Internet Services Corp., a large Internet service provider, this month shipped a preconfigured Unix-based Internet server that can be managed from a Mac.
The $9,895 system is aimed at business and academic sites that do not have the in-house programming resources to support Internet e-mail or information servers. Unlike traditional Unix servers, BBN's runs a shell that permits remote configuration of the server with a Mac administration application.
According to BBN, the program offers a user interface similar to AppleShare Admin. Users can manage mail lists and accounts, as well as determine server usage. The program allows the construction of Gopher databases and World-Wide Web pages by copying over Mac-based folders and text files.
The BBN Internet Server runs on a 60-MHz Pentium-based machine with 16 Mbytes of RAM, a 500-Mbyte hard disk and a DAT drive. The system comes standard with external power-line conditioning hardware, an Ethernet card and two serial ports. The company recommends a switched-56 line or faster Internet connection.
After consultation with the customer's company and its Internet service provider, BBN will ship the server configured with the host's name; domain server address; SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) and Post Office Protocol mail services; local news group hierarchy; and servers for FTP (File Transfer Protocol), Gopher and Web.
A maintenance service is available for $1,450 per year. A Windows version of the management software is expected in the first quarter of 1995, according to the company.
The company this month also introduced the Internet Site Patrol, a $1,500 annual security service for academic institutions and businesses on the Internet. The service installs a firewall system that insulates mail and information servers from unauthorized access, BBN said.
BBN Internet Services Corp. of Cambridge, Mass., a subsidiary of Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc., can be reached at (617) 873-8730 or (800) 632-7638; fax (617) 873-5620; join-nearnet@near.net.
MacWEEK 10.24.94
Gateways Page 10
(c) Copyright 1994 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Mobile: Sony MiniDisc storage to boost PB capacity
MO drive to offer 140 Mbytes of space
By David Morgenstern
Optical storage soon will be able to get up and go with Sony Electronics Inc.'s MDH-10, a small, lightweight magneto-optical drive using 2.5-inch discs with a capacity of 140 Mbytes.
Based on Sony's MiniDisc (MD) consumer market audio device, the $699.95 MD Data drive has a 3.38-by-5.16-inch footprint and a height of 1.18 inches. It weighs 12 ounces, including the battery pack.
The drive uses discs that support Rewriteable MD Data, MD-ROM and the combination read-only and rewriteable Hybrid MD Data formats. Sony said the media is rated for more than a million read-write operations. It can also play MD Audio discs.
Cross-platform drivers for the device will permit people to use directories and files created on DOS, Windows and Macintosh systems without additional file conversion software, Sony said.
The MDH-10 uses a Fast SCSI-2 interface but offers the data transfer performance of a single-speed CD-ROM: 150 Kbytes per second. It has an average seek time of 500 milliseconds.
The device can be powered with either three AA alkaline batteries or a single $50 lithium-ion battery pack for up to two hours of continuous use. According to Sony, the drive, when not in use, automatically enters sleep mode and will provide at least five hours of operation under normal conditions before requiring a recharge. The lithium-ion battery supports 200 recharging cycles.
Expected to ship by the end of the year, the drive will come with Mac, DOS and Windows drivers; a $29.95 rewriteable disc; and a pair of headphones with remote control.
Sony also introduced an internal version for the docking station in IBM Corp.'s ThinkPad notebooks.
Sony Electronics Inc. of Montvale, N.J., can be reached at (201) 930-7796 or (800) 472-7669; fax (201) 358-4942.
MacWEEK 10.24.94
Mobile Computing Page 14
(c) Copyright 1994 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Mobile: Prodigy, AOL reduce access rates
AOL may have quelled boycott
By James Staten
America Online Inc. and Prodigy Services Co. exchanged fire last week in the ongoing price war between the on-line services.
Prodigy delivered the first shot when it introduced a new pricing plan that undercut AOL. Users can now join Prodigy for $9.95 a month and get five hours of access; additional hours cost $2.95.
Prodigy said its previous membership plan, priced at $14.95 and including unlimited access to core services such as chat areas and most bulletin boards, will be renamed the Value Plan. It will be available only to members who have been subscribers for more than a month. Also, all fees for e-mail have been dropped for both the basic and value plans.
America Online countered with a price change of its own. It announced that starting Jan. 1 its hourly rate will be reduced from $3.50 to $2.95, matching Prodigy's offer. Monthly fees will remain $9.95, including five hours of access time.
In addition to competitive pressures, AOL's price cut may head off a member boycott scheduled to start Nov. 1. An e-mail message from organizers of the boycott asked the on-line service's 1 million members to stay off the service for a day.
AOL said the price reduction was not motivated by boycott threats or Prodigy's price cut but rather was offered as a thank-you to its members for helping it achieve the growth it has experienced over the past year.
Prodigy Services Co. of White Plains, N.Y., can be reached at (914) 448-8000 or (800) 776-3449.
America Online Inc. of Vienna, Va., can be reached at (705) 448-8700 or (800) 827-6364; fax (703) 883-1532.
MacWEEK 10.24.94
Mobile Computing Page 14
(c) Copyright 1994 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
GA: FreeHand, Illustrator to swap files
Programs will use PDF for exchange
By Carolyn Said
By next summer, graphic artists will be able to move files back and forth between Adobe Illustrator and Altsys FreeHand with ease.
As an exchange mechanism, the programs will use Portable Document Format (PDF), the file format underlying Adobe Systems Inc.'s Acrobat file-exchange software.
Adobe of Mountain View, Calif., and Altsys of Richardson, Texas, were spurred to create file interchange between their competing illustration programs by John Monahan, graphics department director at The Associated Press in New York. AP, which currently distributes graphics to its 1,555 member newspapers in FreeHand format, will switch to PDF beginning next summer, allowing newspapers to edit the files in either FreeHand or Illustrator.
"This is a remarkable advance for my industry," Monahan said. "Having a nonproprietary domain for all [graphical] documents is an absolute coup for everyone involved: AP, our member newspapers and the companies [Adobe and Altsys]."
Steve Reed, network coordinator for Gannett News Service in Arlington, Va., said he thinks that PDF interchange may help break the cycle of mandatory software upgrades. If file compatibility is no longer an issue, he said, "the only incentive to upgrade would be features, so you might see a flourishing in features and some really innovative ideas to compel people to upgrade." The onus of upgrading "would be placed on the [developer], where it belongs."
Altsys CEO Jim Von Ehr acknowledged that the agreement changes the nature of market competition. "We can't lock people into either program anymore, but the benefits of openness outweigh the benefits of locking people in," he said. "It's a little more challenging but a lot more rewarding." Von Ehr said he hopes PDF will become a standard, like EPS, which Adobe, Altsys, Aldus Corp. and Quark Inc. originally defined in 1986.
Enabling FreeHand to read and write PDF represents progress for Adobe in trying to create an industry standard, observers said. Although PDF is an open standard, the Altsys agreement represents "the first time that anyone else will read Acrobat documents directly," said Gary Cosimini, business development manager at Adobe. "Other people just save to PDF; none read it."
Adobe, which now owns Aldus PageMaker, has the wherewithal to make PDF an interchange standard for desktop publishing as well as the graphics world. PageMaker currently can write to PDF via a software Addition. "The thought [of enabling PageMaker to read PDF] has occurred," Cosimini said. "How exactly and in what form is something that will be determined as time goes on."
Altsys and Adobe declined to comment on when the interchange will be implemented but said they are targeting next summer at the latest. Interchange will require revisions to both FreeHand and Illustrator. Cosimini said Adobe will probably not need to revise the PDF specification. Along with Altsys, it will work to define the semantics of editable objects, which the existing PDF can accept as hidden comments.
The current version of Illustrator, 5.5, can import PDF files and export noneditable PDF files via a software plug-in. Adobe will revise Illustrator to export editable PDF, while Altsys said it plans to revise FreeHand to read and write PDF.
Altsys, which regained control of FreeHand after the Adobe-Aldus merger, will begin marketing the program in January.
MacWEEK 10.24.94
GA Page 20
(c) Copyright 1994 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
GA: VIDI's Presenter Pro 3.0
Program uses TrueSound for new 3-D effects
By Carolyn Said
Both images and sound can move in the latest release of Presenter Professional from Visual Information Development Inc.
Presenter Pro 3.0, available now for $1,995 for both 680x0-based Macs and Power Macs, represents a complete rewrite of the 3-D modeling, rendering and animation package, according to VIDI (see MacWEEK, Feb. 28, Page 18).
A new feature called TrueSound lets users position an unlimited number of speakers and microphones throughout a 3-D scene to provide sound effects such as stereo and the Doppler effect. The program's new interface metaphor is a virtual 3-D production stage that lets users click and drag to maneuver lights, cameras and speakers through a 3-D animation.
New animation features include an event-based time line for scripting; effects such as gravity, collision, wind, jitter and human motion; and spline path animation. Time-based animation "allows us to have one object move faster than another, which was practically impossible before," said beta user Peter Ratner, professor of computer graphics at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va. "For example, we can have a character raise his arm at the same time as his head nods."
Rendering enhancements include a faster ray tracer, stereoscopic viewing and improved RenderMan support. Ray tracing "is superquick on the PowerPC," Ratner said. "When I'm modeling, I can keep my 3-D shaded window on all the time and get instant feedback."
The ModelPro module now offers Boolean operations, free-form hole punch, spline drawing and interface enhancements. A sculpting capability called Digital Clay makes it easier to create and edit spline meshes, according to the company.
Upgrades are $795.
Visual Information Development Inc. of Monrovia, Calif., is at (818) 358-3936; fax (818) 358-4766; vidi@applelink.apple.com.
MacWEEK 10.24.94
GA Page 20
(c) Copyright 1994 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
BusinessWatch: Mergers could revamp Mac software
By Robin Meyerowitz
The wave of mergers sweeping the Mac market is stirring debate not only over the financial future of the industry but about its effect on software development.
Company executives and analysts see both positive and negative results: Fewer applications will be written by major vendors, but start-ups will gain the chance to flourish in niche markets. Most agree it's all part of the market's maturation.
"Consolidation probably helps Apple more than it hurts it," Symantec Corp. CEO Gordon Eubanks said. "The bigger the companies are, the more resources they can apply to Mac programs and other platforms."
Claris Corp. CEO Dan Eilers said merged companies now should be able to create more interesting technology because they will be devoting more of their product budgets to R&D rather than to expensive marketing campaigns.
But whether newly formed software behemoths such as Adobe Systems Inc.-Aldus Corp., Symantec-Central Point Software Inc. and Microsoft Corp.-Intuit Inc. actually flex their development muscle is another matter, others contend.
"I see no reason for Adobe to rush its products to market if it owns the market," said Jeff Tarter, editor of Soft*letter, a newsletter based in Watertown, Mass. He said Microsoft, which has been slow to develop and upgrade applications, provides a classic example in the word processing and spreadsheet markets.
Corley Phillips, president and CEO of Manzanita Software Systems, a developer of accounting packages, added that while software development for Intel-standard machines has traditionally suffered because of mergers on the Intel-standard PC side, that isn't likely to happen in the Mac market. "[Mac developers] tend to produce high-quality products, so I don't think you'll see product degradation," Phillips said.
The real problem confronting the Mac market, Tarter said, is that larger companies are more likely to develop Windows 95 applications first.
Pete Higgins, Microsoft senior vice president, desktop applications division, agreed. He said third-party developers will continue to create Windows, Mac and OS/2 programs where they see business opportunities -- mergers or no mergers. "It's not clear to me that consolidation, per se, has anything to do with Mac development," he said.
Although there may be fewer major products, there is always room for new ideas, Eilers argued. "For entrepreneurs who want to do spreadsheets or word processors, it's probably too late in the game to enter these markets, but there is a huge possibility for products in communications, multimedia and enterprise-wide [solutions]," he said. "The market is limited only by creativity."
Another key factor for smaller developers, analysts said, is the availability of OpenDoc next year. OpenDoc will give companies the opportunity to tailor their applications, and it will also let them make add-ons or filters for popular programs such as Photoshop and QuarkXPress.
Pieter Hartsook, editor of The Hartsook Letter in Alameda, Calif., said, "It's an opportunity for larger and smaller companies who don't have the resources to build a PageMaker but certainly have the resources to improve a PageMaker."
MacWEEK 10.24.94
BusinessWatch Page 24
(c) Copyright 1994 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
BusinessWatch: Microsoft banks on Intuit
Proposed acquisition creates finance titan
By Jon Swartz
If you can't beat 'em, buy 'em.
That was precisely the tactic Microsoft Corp. has chosen with its proposed $1.5 billion acquisition of Intuit Inc. this month, industry observers said,
The agreement, which essentially makes Intuit the business-software division of Microsoft, calls for each share of Intuit stock to be exchanged for 1.336 shares of Microsoft.
"Intuit routinely beat Microsoft and that upset [Microsoft CEO Bill] Gates," said Angela Hey, an analyst at Input, a Mountain View, Calif.-based market research company.
Intuit's popular Quicken program accounted for about half of the $160 million personal-finance software market last year, and it outsold Microsoft Money by more than 9 to 1, according to Dataquest Inc. of San Jose, Calif.
Analysts said Microsoft, based in Redmond, Wash., would have continued to pour its considerable resources into a futile effort if Gates and Intuit CEO Scott Cook did not share a common vision of the banking industry.
Both foresee tens of millions of people handling their finances with software on-line. Working with banks and credit card companies, Gates and Cook could create a dominant player in the financial services arena.
Eric Dunn, vice president and general manager of Intuit's personal-finance business unit, said Microsoft's financial backing will help Intuit sell into international markets and give it increased credibility among financial institutions.
The enormity of the transaction -- the largest in U.S. software history -- will pay Cook handsomely. The founder of Menlo Park, Calif.-based Intuit stands to make $338 million from the deal.
MacWEEK 10.24.94
BusinessWatch Page 24
(c) Copyright 1994 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Editorial: Printers? Think HP. Think again.
Hewlett-Packard Co. has long set the printer market's standards for advanced technology, quality, features, price, availability and breadth of product line. It's no fluke that HP rules the roost in inkjet devices and laser printers. It's the pre-eminent choice for both Macintosh and Windows buyers.
To suggest that HP is losing ground in this industry is to defy nearly every market-share report rolling off the presses at research houses everywhere. But if you look carefully, you may see that things are beginning to change.
Let's take recent reports about Tektronix Inc.'s aggressive foray into the color laser market with the Phaser 540, which reportedly will sell in the range of HP's Color LaserJet. The Tek printer is said to offer twice the speed of HP's product and has continuous-tone output, which the Color LaserJet and its competitors lack.
Then there's the new "me too" product from HP, generally considered a leader, not a follower. Both Xante Corp. and QMS Inc. beat HP to market by delivering 16-page-per-minute tabloid-size laser printers. All three companies use the same Canon engine, which leads us to conclude that either HP's marketing group was slow to see the value of the technology or its engineering team dragged its feet getting the printer ready. In either case, HP has reacted defensively.
Finally, we've noticed that Apple's printer offerings are becoming as attractive as HP's. Apple was once a technology leader in the printer market, but in the past few years the company has been moribund, allowing HP to overtake it. Michael Spindler, who doesn't seem to let a market opportunity go unexploited, has given Apple's printer team a mandate to take market share away from HP.
That means broad choice and aggressive prices. Imagine: Apple has the lowest-cost 17-ppm laser printer in its class. Its inkjet devices are beginning to go toe-to-toe with HP's, often with higher-definition output. And a color laser is reportedly around the corner.
So if you're in the market for a printer, definitely think HP. But think about a few others as well.
MacWEEK 10.24.94
Editorial Page 26
(c) Copyright 1994 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Second Decade: The system's going to pieces
So will users without info
By Henry Norr
Apple is moving quickly to "componentize" its APIs and other system software, company officials said at an upbeat briefing last month on the status of OpenDoc.
"Hooray," I thought to myself, reciting the litany of virtues so often ascribed to modular software.
Then I remembered my System folder.
Like mushrooms after a rain
The fact is that I already have more system-software components than I know what to do with. An "Easy Install" of System 7.5 put 23 files in my Power Mac's Control Panels folder and 43 in the Extensions folder. Adding PowerTalk and QuickDraw GX raised the numbers to 29 and 59, respectively -- not to mention 20 ColorSync profiles in my Preferences folder and a new PowerTalk Data folder containing files with user-friendly names such as WSBTree and IPM Bin. Apple Remote Access installed dozens of other files. Before I'd done a lick of work, my System folder tipped the scales at more than 25 Mbytes.
What bothers me even more than the space consumed is the problem of managing all these fragments, especially as the inevitable updates start popping up on AppleLink and elsewhere. I can't even keep track of what version of everything I've got in my own brand-new System folder -- imagine the challenges facing Mac managers and technical support staffers.
I set out to alleviate the problem by getting rid of the pieces I was sure I wouldn't need. In some cases it was easy: for example, the ImageWriter LQ driver Apple thinks every user should have and then the four different LaserWriter II NT printer descriptions I found.
But try as I might, I simply haven't been able to discover what some of my new system-software components do. Take the PowerPC Monitors Extension -- is that something I need? (I do have a PowerPC and a monitor ...) I checked in System 7.5's skimpy manual, but it's not even mentioned there. I searched the Macintosh Guide, only to receive an error message saying "Can't find the word: PowerPC." I tried Apple's help line three times, but it was always busy.
The information rage
It's incumbent on Apple and application developers to provide clear and accessible information about what each component they install does and for what purposes it's necessary. Windows 95 will have a central registry designed partly for this purpose; I'd like to see something like that from Apple. Or maybe the expanded Get Info windows reportedly due in the Copland Finder will do the trick -- assuming Apple finally gets around to making sure all the information stored there will survive a desktop rebuild.
Unfortunately, Apple currently doesn't seem much interested in helping users understand their systems: About This Macintosh no longer even distinguishes among Mac models; according to a recent Tech Note, the company will reuse existing Gestalt IDs and remove model names, thus preventing even utility developers from working around the new policy.
If Apple brings that attitude to the coming age of modular software, it could become a systems-management nightmare.
Henry Norr, editor emeritus of MacWEEK, welcomes feedback in the MacWEEK forum on CompuServe or eWorld or at henry_norr@macweek.ziff.com.
MacWEEK 10.24.94
Second Decade Page 26
(c) Copyright 1994 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
MacWEEK Insider: Outsourcing Mac sales to IBM
By Stephen Howard
In mid-1995, IBM Corp. will start selling Macintosh clones. Seen from another angle, Apple will be outsourcing its Mac business sales, and this is great news for Macintosh managers.
To be specific, IBM is expected to build a high-end unit based on the PowerPC 604 processor and PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) bus. You've read about this Mac before; it's the same as Apple's upcoming six-slot Power Mac, code-named Tsunami.
You may have noticed that the plans being hatched for Big Blue Macs break all the strategic rules of both companies. Apple isn't supposed to want a competitor in the U.S. market. IBM is supposed to be backing OS/2 as its operating system for PowerPC machines.
The truth is, both companies need each other, strategies be damned.
Consider this: Last week Apple held its annual sales conference in Atlanta, and sprinkled amid the hundreds of regional field representatives were the 50 or so members of Apple's direct sales force. These are the folks who call on large sites and keep the Mac fires burning in the dark corridors of big business.
It's not good when your entire corporate sales force can go out to dinner together. IBM has thousands of direct sales representatives deployed in 14 industry-specific teams; they go places Apple reps won't or can't. They certainly have a different approach than Apple, which is all to the good where corporate IS is concerned.
Industry pundits will wonder whether Big Blue's legions can really sell Macs into anti-Apple strongholds. That's their problem. Big Blue can help you manage your Macintosh site in substantial ways.
As soon as IBM announces its Mac OEM agreement, many sites will be able to cease writing single-source justifications when buying Apple hardware. If you have to spec a new system but know the higher-ups are not fond of Macs, you will be able to write a Mac recommendation that does not mention the word "Apple."
You'll have an alternative when no one can get you Apple-brand Macs on time. (Well, yes, the second source is IBM. And, no, the company doesn't have a spotless record in the supply department.) Smart Mac managers should ally themselves with local IBM reps to sell upper management and recalcitrant departments. I can imagine a clever representative selling just about anyone on a 604-based Power Mac with a 50-MHz or better 486-equipped Houdini card.
Superficially, the sales pitch for the Blue Mac would not differ much from the one for Workplace OS: It's an IBM-labeled PowerPC that runs Windows, Mac, and (maybe) OS/2 and AIX applications.
IBM should be able to sell this machine with a credibility that Apple doesn't have, through a sales force Apple never built.
MacWEEK 10.24.94
MacWEEK Insider Page 3
(c) Copyright 1994 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Review: Face to Face 2.0 puts Mac, Windows together
Hoping to provide users with a more efficient way to collaborate on documents long distance, Crosswise Corp. has released Face to Face 2.0, the first low-cost, cross-platform document conferencing system. The $179 program lets two users view and annotate a document from any application together in real time, rather than using fax or e-mail. Version 2 adds a number of new features, including integrated file transfer, and support for TCP/IP and large monitors. Its most important improvement, however, is that you can now confer with both Macintosh and Windows users.
Face to Face requires a Mac II or later, at least 4 Mbytes of RAM, 5 Mbytes of disk space and System 7.0 or later. The package includes a freely distributable Listener for both Mac and Windows users. The Listener is identical to the full application except it can only receive meetings. Users can also download Listener software from Crosswise's on-line services.
Installation and configuration
A custom installer places the application and all communications tools in their proper locations. Face to Face can establish meeting connections via modem, ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network), serial cable null modem, or over TCP/IP or AppleTalk networks. (Windows users can use Novell NetWare.) Configuring each connection type is straightforward and relatively painless. Connections via an external modem require a hardware handshake cable, which is not included. You'll probably want to talk with your conferee via telephone while your computers communicate via Face to Face, so separate data and voice lines are also recommended for modem-based connections.
Taking a meeting
Document conferences in Face to Face are represented by Meeting Files. Each Meeting File contains the names of the two people involved in the meeting, the type of connection and all documents involved. You create Meeting Files in the Meeting window.
The first step is to select the two people who'll be participating in the document conference. You choose yourself and the other participant from Face to Face's Address Book. You can also select meeting participants from PowerTalk catalogs.
Next you add the documents to be discussed. You can include any printable document from any application in your conference. To prepare a document for a conference, you must first select the Face to Face Image Catcher device from the Chooser. You then print your document from its native application; the Image Catcher creates a bit-mapped, screen-resolution, page-accurate image of the document called an Image Document. This is the document that both users will work with on screen. You can also include standard Mac (or Windows) files in a meeting, but they can't be annotated or shared within Face to Face; they are simply transferred to the other user's computer.
Once you have selected the participants and documents for the meeting you can make the connection. The recipient places his or her computer in receive mode, and you initiate the meeting by clicking the Call button in the Meeting window. Face to Face negotiates a connection based on the protocol selected and engages the recipient's computer. The Meeting File is automatically transferred from your computer to the recipient's. If the recipient has a copy of the Meeting File already on his or her machine (perhaps from a previous meeting), then Face to Face compares the documents in each and transfers unique files on one computer to the other.
Face off
Only one participant has the floor at any given time during the conference; this person can change or make annotations to the active Image Document. The other participant can take charge at any time by clicking the Take Charge button. There is no way for one user to lock the other out, so good etiquette is a must.
To annotate an Image Document, Face to Face provides a collection of simple drawing tools in the Document window, including tools for lines, ovals, text and a free-form pencil. An Eraser tool lets you edit your work. In addition to the bit-mapped annotations, you can also place electronic sticky notes on an Image Document. Notes can be placed and moved around on a page, and the text inside them can be copied and pasted back into the original documents later. You can print and save all the work performed on an Image Document, giving you an accurate record of each person's contributions.
Annotations can get very cluttered, so Face to Face lets you add them in layers. As in drawing programs, layers act like cellophane overlays. Annotations are made to a specific layer and can overlap with annotations in other layers. You can use layers to help organize your annotations. For example, you can create a layer for each person's notes or for each revision of a document.
One improvement we'd like to see is more automated ways to differentiate the contributions of participants. It would be fairly straightforward to show each participant's annotations in a different color, for example. Although you can manually create layers for each participant, it would be nice if Face to Face handled it automatically.
Performance
We tested Face to Face between Macs on an AppleTalk network and between combinations of Macs and Intel-standard PCs over modem lines. We found it to be consistently straightforward and easy to use. Meetings were the same, regardless of whether a Mac or PC was at the other end of the connection. Performance varied widely, but we found that both AppleTalk and 14.4-Kbps connections offered entirely satisfactory response times. Modem connections below 9,600 bps were a bit tedious, however, so we recommend that you use a higher-speed modem.
Face the music
While we were impressed by Face to Face's innovative capabilities, the current version has a few limitations. The most restrictive is that it's a point-to-point process; you can only confer with one other person at a time. A Version 3.0 update, planned for 1995, will increase the number of users in a meeting. However, modem-to-modem connections will likely remain one-on-one.
Another limitation is that the program supports only black-and-white documents; users who want to confer over color documents (such as graphic artists examining proofs or presenters preparing slides) will also have to wait for Version 3.
Finally, lengthy document conferences can prove prohibitively expensive across long-distance phone lines. Users will need to weigh the convenience offered by the program's real-time conferencing with the potential cost involved.
Documentation and support
Face to Face's documentation covers all aspects of installation, setup and usage. The manual is complete, easy to follow and well-indexed. Several quick-reference cards included in the package offer guidance on installing Listener versions and getting technical support.
Support is available via toll call and several on-line services. Crosswise also offers a "first meeting" service in which customers can call Crosswise to run their first meeting, but this requires a toll call.
Conclusions
For those who collaborate on complex documents or who need to do detailed document conferencing, Face to Face 2 offers a more immediate, efficient and cost-effective mechanism than other options, such as fax swapping, messaging or e-mail. Its capability to let users of different platforms and different applications collaborate on documents in real time is successfully realized and remarkably hassle-free. It's easy to set up and use, and it offers one of the least frustrating ways to work with Windows we've ever seen. Although the current version still has a few limitations, Face to Face is a useful product that we believe will improve with age.
Crosswise Corp. of Santa Cruz, Calif., can be reached at (408) 459-9060 or (800) 747-9060; fax (408) 426-3859; support@crosswise.com.
MacWEEK 10.24.94
Reviews Page 29
(c) Copyright 1994 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Review: PhotoEngine DSP cranks up Photoshop 3
Radius card works on 680x0, Power Macs
By Bruce Fraser
Firing the latest salvo in the ongoing Adobe Photoshop acceleration war, Radius Inc. has released PhotoEngine, the first Photoshop-specific digital signal processor accelerator developed specifically with the Power Macintosh and Photoshop 3.0 in mind.
Until vendors of earlier digital signal processor, or DSP, solutions revise their software, PhotoEngine has the distinction of being the only DSP board to offer full support for Photoshop 3. Boasting four 66-MHz DSP3210 chips from AT&T Corp. and 128 Kbytes of static RAM, the $1,099 board also brings blazing performance to 680x0-based Macs.
Installation and configuration
Installation and setup are straightforward; the 7-inch card is compact enough to fit any NuBus-based Mac. The Installer places an extension in the Extensions folder and a plug-in in Photoshop's Plug-ins folder.
PhotoEngine is Adobe-charged, which means Adobe Systems Inc. certifies that the results it produces are visually identical to those produced by unaccelerated Photoshop. It's also transparent in operation -- you simply use Photoshop commands as usual. The only way you'll notice PhotoEngine's presence is that things happen a lot faster. If you want, you can have the plug-in display a green dot in the menu bar whenever PhotoEngine acceleration comes into play, but once you're satisfied the product works as advertised you'll probably want to turn it off -- it's distracting after a while.
We ran benchmarks using Photoshop 3 and System 7.5 on a Power Mac 8100/80 and a Quadra 840AV with and without PhotoEngine. We used an 18-Mbyte RGB image file with 64 Mbytes of RAM allocated to Photoshop. On the Power Mac, we also tested PhotoEngine using the same file with smaller RAM allocations of 45 Mbytes and 27 Mbytes, corresponding to about 2.5 and 1.5 times the file size, respectively.
The results of these tests made it clear that to use PhotoEngine to its best advantage you need either enough RAM to allow Photoshop to avoid extensive paging out to disk -- generally at least 3 times the file size -- or, failing that, an extremely fast disk system, such as RAID (redundant array of inexpensive disks). With smaller RAM allocations, the speed boost is dramatically reduced.
Performance
In general, PhotoEngine delivers what it promises, turning in the fastest times we've yet obtained with a DSP accelerator on many key Photoshop functions. On the Power Mac, PhotoEngine's speed increases ranged from a modest 1.3 times faster on the Find Edges filter to almost 4 times faster on Gaussian Blurs at a variety of pixel radii. Rotate, Resize, Despeckle and Feather Selection were about twice as fast with PhotoEngine as without; and Unsharp Masking was accelerated by a factor of three to four, depending on the pixel radius used.
On the 840AV, the speed gains were even more dramatic, though the absolute performance was invariably slower than that of the PhotoEngine-equipped Power Mac. PhotoEngine accelerates fewer operations on Power Macs than on 680x0-based Macs because the software is smart enough to know when the Power Mac can do the job faster and gets out of the way accordingly.
Speed boosts on the 840AV ranged from 1.5 times on Mode Change to 11 times on large-radius Gaussian Blurs. Resize was sped up 1.7 times; Rotate 2.3 times; Calculate commands 2.7 times; Find Edges, Feather and Despeckle 3 to 4 times; Unsharp Mask 6 to 9 times; and Gaussian Blur 9 to 11 times. On most operations, the PhotoEngine-equipped 840AV came within a few seconds of the PhotoEngine-equipped Power Mac, with the notable exception of Mode change, which is still more than twice as fast on a Power Mac with or without PhotoEngine.
We also ran a brief suite of tests using Photoshop 2.5.1, simply to compare it with other DSP boards we've tested in the past. It proved to be the fastest Photoshop accelerator we've tested, besting the previous speed champ, SuperMac Technology Inc.'s Thunder II GX 1360, by as much as 2.25 times on operations such as large-radius Gaussian Blurs.
On the Quadra 840AV, we also tested PhotoEngine in conjunction with Radius' LeMansGT accelerated video board. The LeMansGT made a barely perceptible improvement to Photoshop, but it does provide considerable acceleration to more QuickDraw-intensive applications.
Faster video
Through the end of the year, Radius is doubling its existing rebate offers on five Radius and SuperMac video cards when you also buy PhotoEngine. The rebate is $300 for the LeMansGT, SuperMac Technology Thunder/24 and Thunder II GX 1152 cards and $500 for the SuperMac Thunder II GX 1360 and Thunder II GX 1600.
Quadra users who have either opted to stay with the 680x0-based Mac or are using Apple's or DayStar Digital Inc.'s PowerPC processor direct slot upgrade cards to get Power Mac capabilities may find this promotion attractive. Any of these video cards will accelerate the video to, or in some cases slightly beyond, Power Mac 8100 levels. For Power Mac users, video acceleration has relatively little to offer, but the Thunder II GX 1360 and 1600 provide higher resolutions than the Power Mac itself can support.
Documentation and support
PhotoEngine's documentation is brief but adequate. Technical support is available via a toll-free number. PhotoEngine comes well-protected with a 30-day money-back guarantee and a lifetime warranty.
Conclusions
PhotoEngine delivers the fastest Photoshop performance we've seen on the Mac, turning in times that rival even Sun Microsystems Inc.'s dual-processor SPARCstation 20. It's fully optimized for Power Macs and Photoshop 3 and goes a long way toward dispelling the notion that DSP acceleration is dead. If you're looking for the ultimate in Photoshop acceleration for either Power Macs or 680x0-based Macs, PhotoEngine delivers it.
Radius Inc. of San Jose, Calif., can be reached at (408) 434-1010 or (800) 227-2795; fax (408) 954-1927.
MacWEEK 10.24.94
Reviews Page 29
(c) Copyright 1994 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Review: La Cie's Joule storage system
Stackable drives provide compact elegance but lack of flexibility a shortcoming until portable dock is released
By Henry Norr
Among the factors that have made La Cie Ltd. a leader in the Macintosh storage market, not the least has been innovative industrial design. The company is at it again with a new product family called the Joule Modular Storage System, a scheme that lets you combine multiple drives into a single stack.
A standard Joule system starts with a base unit -- a shoe-box-size case with an odd-shaped protuberance around its left-rear corner. With it comes a Joule Top Cap, which clips over the left rear of the base.
The Top Cap is permanently attached to a 24-inch cable that connects to the 25-pin SCSI port on desktop Macs (a Top Cap with a cable for a 50-pin connector is a $49 option). The base includes a 100-watt universal power supply; a fan; a 50-pin SCSI connector; a switchable digital active terminator; three LEDs, for power, drive activity and termination; and, normally, a 3.5-inch hard drive. There are also two auxiliary power outlets for other peripherals; unfortunately, they require hooded male plugs with flat ground prongs -- a type that isn't standard with Mac peripherals.
If you add no other modules, the base unit and Top Cap together can function as a stand-alone drive. La Cie currently offers base units with Quantum and Digital Equipment hard drives ranging in capacity from 340 Mbytes for $359 to 1.4 Gbytes for $969. Also available are base units with 230-Mbyte Fujitsu magneto-optical drives for $869 and 105- or 270-Mbyte SyQuest mechanisms for $419 and $569, respectively. Joule systems also include La Cie's Silverlining 5.6 disk formatting utility.
The Lego line
To attach additional Joule modules, you remove the Top Cap and in its place plug in another plastic part called a Joule Mount, or vertebra. You lock the mount into the base or another mount with plastic fasteners, then slide the extra drive module into the mount and reattach the Top Cap.
The process is quick and simple, but some of the plastic fasteners are hard to twist into a fully locked position. In one case, we even snapped off a small plastic guidepost. La Cie could solve this problem by providing a wrench designed to fit the fasteners.
You can add as many as six modules to your base unit. Options include 170-Mbyte 2.5-inch hard drives for $299, 4.3-Gbyte 3.5-inch mechanisms for $2,869, as well as 3.5-inch SyQuest, MO, quarter-inch tape and DAT drives. (The latter includes a copy of Dantz Development Corp.'s Retrospect 2.1.) Each module has its own LED activity indicator and SCSI ID switch. Full-height modules include their own fans.
What's the point?
The beauty of all this is that individual modules don't need their own power cords, power supplies or SCSI cables; a single connector in each mount carries both power and data for each module. That means you can put gigabytes of fixed hard drive capacity, plus a removable-cartridge or tape drive, on your desk without sacrificing your work space to multiple boxes and cables. And you can move a module from one Joule stack to another simply by shutting down your system, sliding the module out of its mount and plugging it into another -- a handy solution if you have to transfer huge amounts of data from one machine to another.
At this writing, you can do that only if the destination Mac is also equipped with a Joule stack: Lacking a power supply and connections to a Mac, a module is no use by itself. However, La Cie is about to add a new option to the Joule lineup -- a portable dock that will provide power and SCSI connections for a single Joule module. The dock will be sold separately for $149, while all modules currently available with mounts (for use in stacks) will also be offered with the portable dock instead of the mount. Prices for a module with a portable dock will be the same as those for the same module with a mount, according to the company.
Some caveats
The Joule system is elegant in its design, and reducing space and cable requirements is a real benefit. The mechanisms available for the Joule are industry standards, and Silverlining is full-featured and reliable, although La Cie has recently allowed the program to fall behind in some respects. Silverlining didn't offer full support for the year-old SCSI Manager 4.3 until this month, when Version 5.6 shipped, and the program's user interface is long overdue for a cleanup.
The $2,387 unit we tested, which included a base unit with a 105-Mbyte SyQuest drive, priced at $419; a 1.08-Mbyte Quantum hard drive, $769; and the $1,199 TurboPython DAT drive from Archive Technology Inc. worked well in most respects during more than a month of daily use. We carefully watched for SCSI problems when connecting the Joule to a Power Mac 8100 because of two concerns about the system: The SCSI cable attached to the Top Cap is unusually thin, whereas heavily shielded cables are recommended for fast machines, and data and power are carried on the same channel -- with no isolation -- inside the Joule tower. Our tests, however, turned up no problems that could be traced to these cabling issues.
We did have one significant problem with the Joule: Retrospect repeatedly hung after copying just a few files. With generous help from Dantz, we finally discovered that the SCSI ID number shown on the DAT's Mount did not match the drive's actual electrical ID, so even though we'd set the numbering properly, the DAT drive was using the same ID as the SyQuest module.
When we reported the problem to La Cie, the company promptly sent a replacement mount. It didn't solve the problem, however; that required a new DAT module, which did not arrive for more than a month. La Cie blamed the problem on a previously unnoticed wiring change made by the supplier of the DAT mechanism, Conner Peripherals Inc. La Cie said it has corrected the problem in units now shipping.
The current Joule system imposes some serious trade-offs: In exchange for reducing space requirements and eliminating some cables, you have to give up much of the flexibility a standard external drive offers. You can't, for example, use a Joule tape drive away from its home stack; pass on a drive you've outgrown to a colleague; or take your hard disk home or on the road, unless there is another Joule stack at the destination.
Assuming the portable dock works as advertised (we didn't have one to test), it will alleviate this problem: As long as you have the 10-ounce unit available, you can use any Joule module as a stand-alone drive. In fact, La Cie is positioning its 2.5-inch Joule drives, in combination with the dock, as a successor to its PocketDrive line.
One problem that remains is that a failure in the base unit -- with the power supply, for instance -- would put all your Joule modules out of commission. With standard external drives, you could simply take the problem drive off-line and resume work with the others.
The final issue is cost. When we compared the advertised price of our Joule configuration to the total cost of separate external drives with the same mechanisms from other leading direct suppliers, we found the others were all less expensive: The three drives would have cost $2,027 from APS Technologies; $2,037 from ClubMac; and $2,057 from Spin Peripherals, a division of Spirit Technologies Inc. And even one portable dock would add $149 to the price of the Joule setup.
According to La Cie, this discrepancy merely reflects temporary fluctuations, not a long-term plan to charge a premium for Joule drives. On average, the company said, users can expect to pay a modest premium for some base units, but individual modules, sold either with mounts or with portable docks, will be priced competitively with stand-alone external drives from other market leaders.
Documentation and support
The manual, which covers all the options except the portable dock, is clearly written, well-illustrated and includes a useful appendix on SCSI troubleshooting. La Cie's toll-free technical support was helpful and responsive, although the communications breakdown that delayed shipment of a replacement for our test DAT module was disconcerting.
Conclusions
La Cie's Joule Modular Storage System is an elegant solution for those looking to liberate their desks from the clutter and confusion multiple external devices and cables can produce.
The current design has some distinct downsides, at least for those who value the freedom to move their storage devices to new locations without extra expenditure and planning. However, the addition of the portable dock to the Joule line should alleviate these concerns. If you're concerned about flexibility, you may want to wait for the dock.
La Cie Ltd. of Beaverton, Ore., is at (503) 520-9000 or (800) 999-0143; fax (503) 520-9100.
MacWEEK 10.24.94
Reviews Page 30
(c) Copyright 1994 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
ProductWatch: Enterprisewide directories
Directory servers can synchronize names across disparate e-mail systems.
By Michael Miley
What's in a name? A lot, if you're a large corporation with several e-mail systems and hundreds or thousands of users trying to communicate with one another. Apart from messaging and enclosure translation problems across gateways, each system has its own user directory, often distributed over many servers, with a separate naming scheme and different directory maintenance issues.
Fortunately, vendors such as Alisa Systems Inc., Digital Equipment Corp., Lotus Development Corp., Worldtalk Corp. and StarNine Technologies Inc. provide tools to link disparate e-mail systems. Their solutions differ and are not complete, but with some internal tweaking, they can offer something close to an enterprise directory for combined e-mail networks, using gateways and a master directory server.
These powerful (and expensive) solutions won't work for everyone, particularly Mac users who want to integrate Apple's PowerTalk (e-mail built into System 7.5) with other e-mail. But you can get by without one of these products. Michael Keithley, information systems director at Creative Artists Agency in Beverly Hills, Calif., doesn't have an enterprisewide directory. He manages about 500 e-mail users scattered over QuickMail from CE Software Inc. of West Des Moines, Iowa, and Microsoft Mail on Macs and Intel-standard PCs; sendmail on Unix machines; and PowerTalk.
"We've used a Sun Mail server over SMTP [Simple Mail Transfer Protocol] as the exchange site for the different mail systems, but we lose our graphic forms and letterhead in the translation," Keithley said. Using SMTP as the lowest common denominator for cross-platform e-mail might mean losing functionality.
Keithley looked to PowerTalk as an eventual companywide migration strategy because Microsoft has effectively abandoned its Mac-based server. Those who have converted to PowerTalk, however, have lost some user functions. "Since there are no receipts across servers, you never know if your recipient has gotten your message, only that it's been forwarded; nor can you unsend a message once it's sent," he said. Furthermore, because PowerTalk catalogs are not transferable over the gateways, Keithley has to maintain his separate e-mail directories manually.
This problem, however, has recently been addressed by StarNine Technologies with its release of Mail*Link Directory Services: It adds support for PowerTalk catalogs. The product also supports a variety of mail systems, including Unix, Novell Message Handling Service, QuickMail, Microsoft Mail for AppleTalk Networks and X.500.
Everything but PowerTalk
Alisa Systems' AlisaMail is a message switch that runs on a Digital VAX 4000 or better, used with a dedicated 386 or better PC that hosts Alisa's multiport gateway to the different e-mail systems. The switch supports all Macintosh mail products except PowerTalk, as well as an assortment of PC and legacy systems, including Digital's All-In-1, SMTP and X.400. The master directory is held in a Sybase SQL database that is open and can link to other databases. Updates from the linked e-mail systems are fed into the database, translated for all connected mail systems and sent to the various directories.
Ascom Timeplex Inc., a networking company in Woodcliff Lake, N.J., has more than 2,000 e-mail users on AlisaMail: some 850 on Microsoft Mail for Macintosh, 550 on Lotus cc:Mail for Windows, 200 on All-In-1 on a VAX and 400 to 500 SMTP users on Unix. According to Brendon Hurley, electronic mail systems consultant at Ascom, "The cc:Mail directory synchronization is limited. If I delete a Mac user, it won't propagate down to the cc:Mail servers unless I do a full directory sync." Alisa is hoping to rectify that, Hurley said.
AlisaMail also propagates its directory into Digital's directory service at Ascom. This is also a full directory sync, requiring the deletion of the All-In-1 directory in AlisaMail whenever there are additions or deletions.
One advantage for users is that AlisaMail maps all user names into a native format, so users see the kind of name list they're accustomed to in their own mail system. Remote users can also dial into the Microsoft Mail or cc:Mail networks to send and pick up their mail.
The Unix users, however, don't have a directory service, only aliases. They search for names with a Unix command, and users must be added manually to the AlisaMail server.
User integration
Digital's directory service (which is available through Digital's DEC X.500 Directory Server and InfoBroker) is in use at other sites, often in the role of enterprise directory, not just in tandem with another service. At Citgo Petroleum Corp. in Tulsa, Okla., for example, an X.400 backbone comprising Digital's MAILbus and an X.500 Server manages a directory of about 30,000 names -- with 500 Mac users on QuickMail; nearly 2,500 users spread among Microsoft Mail, VMSmail, DEC Mailworks, and Unix SMTP mail systems; and the rest on IBM Corp.'s PROFS -- all on a gateway to directory service. The network covers Oklahoma, Illinois, New Jersey, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas.
Integrating the QuickMail users into the directory service requires a nightly export of names from QuickMail's NameServer. "What we do is export a flat-file copy of the QuickMail directory to a DEC, a process we've automated with [CE Software's] QuicKeys," said Dan Grady, messaging integration manager at Citgo. "[Digital's directory service] then imports the file; compares the adds, deletes and modifications with its master directory; incorporates the changes; then copies a portion back to AppleShare, where QuicKeys is used to run an import." The process takes about four hours and involves about 2,200 names, 1,000 of which are Profs users.
Citgo moved to an X.400 backbone solution because it didn't want to start a new universal e-mail system from scratch . "We had invested too much money," Grady said. "We decided that a standardized backbone would work well for us and settled on X.400." But the process was not cheap. The initial integration took about two months and cost almost $230,000 for hardware, software and Digital's integration services.
Hewlett-Packard Co.'s HP OpenMail system, a native X.400/X.500 solution with multiple messaging clients, is an alternative to connecting multiple LAN e-mail systems via gateways and message switches.
Other e-mail directory solutions exist, such as Worldtalk 400, a message switch that runs on HP 9000s or PCs running SCO Unix. When used with Worldtalk Directory Synchronization Services, it provides address translation services, directory synchronization and query capabilities among LAN e-mail systems, as well as IBM PROFS and SNADS. "Access units" are available for Microsoft Mail on PCs and Macs, and in development for QuickMail and GroupWise (formerly WordPerfect Office) from WordPerfect, the Novell Applications Group. Lotus Notes, Novell NetWare MHS, X.400, and SMTP/Internet access units are also available.
Perot Systems of Dallas uses Worldtalk 400 to help some 3,000 users, both employees and external clients, communicate over QuickMail; EMC2 from Fischer International Inc. of Naples, Fla.; cc:Mail; and SMTP. The network extends throughout North America and Western Europe, coordinated through two Worldtalk 400 servers. "We set up the server to translate names in the style associated with each mail system," said Bill Brown, LAN manager for Perot Systems.
The Lotus Enterprise Mail Exchange from the Soft*Switch division of Lotus, is a workstation alternative to its IBM mainframe Soft*Switch Central enterprise directory solution. Lotus EMX is a backbone switch running on an Aviion server from Data General Corp. With X.400/X.500 services running under Unix, its directory is housed in an Oracle relational database. Gateways connect Lotus EMX to the various e-mail systems residing on dedicated PCs, while the system is managed from custom workstations or any X Window server. But the strategy is expensive. Entry-level Lotus EMX servers start at about $30,000 for two mail systems.
Apple's general direction is to put mail transport and directory services at the operating system level with AOCE (Apple Open Collaboration Environment). (Microsoft shares this goal with Microsoft Exchange.) This lets third-party vendors focus their efforts on tying in the front end of mail-enabled applications.
MacWEEK 10.24.94
ProductWatch Page 35
(c) Copyright 1994 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Mac the Knife: Got the chance. Gonna take it?
We've reached that stage at which the farm animals get skittish and right-thinking parents get concerned about how their young children are likely to react.
Not to worry, says the Knife. It's not a case of generic existential blahs or Halloween hysteria. What we're experiencing is the natural result of the modern political election season and our body's natural attempt to survive it. But like Bob Dole and Bill Clinton, this too shall pass.
All we need to do is hang tight and ignore those disgusting political ads. Then in a few days we can concentrate on the year-end selling season with a clear conscience.
After all, it's not as if Apple were on the verge of blowing the opportunity presented by the continuing Windows 95 delays. That would be a problem. With all this time stretching before them, surely the wise and capable people who manage Apple can shepherd Copland to market in time to demonstrate once and for all that the search for excellence and innovation in operating system design stops when you see that smiley-face logo.
Miss big time
You may find this alarming, but the Knife hears that Copland is already falling behind schedule and won't be ready until 1996. By then the market will be so engrossed in Windows 95 that Copland's superiority may be moot; Microsoft will have gained too much momentum.
Developing Copland is a formidable project, but the Knife's sources argue that Apple can do two things in 1995 to scotch Microsoft's march. First, capitalize on the real advantage of the upcoming PCI Macs. Forget that they won't have Copland's shiny new interface. These Macs will be so fast that it's unlikely anyone will have time to debate their other numerous advantages.
Second, do whatever it takes to get Copland to market no later than fourth-quarter '95. Its interface will make cloning Macs a decidedly more attractive proposition to third parties than is the case with 7.5. Given the consensus that a thriving third-party clone market is critical to the Mac's long-term future, blowing this opportunity would amount to criminal negligence.
Mac to the bone
You may be forgiven for beginning to think that the negotiations between Apple and IBM are unlikely to produce anything more substantial than hot air -- forgiven but wrong. The IBM Tsunami clone will use a motherboard designed to fit the Blue box, but it will still be a genuine Mac at heart.
Bad timing
Opportunity knocks only occasionally. If your company has been trying to wrest a portion of the Mac word processing market from Microsoft, it may seem that it knocks not at all. But now that Microsoft has not only dropped the ball but also apparently lost sight of it with Word 6.0, there's opportunity aplenty for the company with a good name and enough resources to stake its claim.
That certainly describes WordPerfect and its new owners, Novell. Those years of steady dedication to the Mac could finally pay off, especially now that WordPerfect Mac is a decent product.
That's why it's all the more unbelievable that the money-changers running Novell are ready to throw in the Mac towel. Rumors persist that Novell is more than interested in selling the entire Mac division; and several companies, including Lotus and Claris, have shown some interest.
In the meantime, the WordPerfect Mac division has become a headhunter's playing field. And isn't it ironic that Microsoft is scooping up the lion's share of exiting Mac talent?
While you may have nothing of interest to Microsoft, you may have something that would make the Knife's day. Let's get with it at (415) 243-3544, fax (415) 243-3651, Internet (mac_the_knife@macweek.ziff.com), AppleLink (MacWEEK) or CompuServe/ZiffNet/Mac. There could be a MacWEEK mug in it for you.
MacWEEK 10.24.94
Mac the Knife Page 74
(c) Copyright 1994 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
