In an exclusive interview with MacWEEK, Apple confirmed that it is moving away from today's PowerTalk as its core communications solution. Instead of Apple's current proprietary technology, the next major revision of PowerTalk will be based on OpenDoc and Internet services like SMTP.
"Adoption of PowerTalk has been very disappointing," said Andy Lauta, product line manager for communications and collaboration. "Less than 10 percent of System 7.5 users are using the technology, because it is too memory-hungry, too slow, confusing to use and does not do enough."
The last version of Apple's current collaboration technology, PowerTalk 1.1, will still ship this quarter, Lauta said. Apple still plans to release full documentation on its application programming interfaces to make development easier for third parties, he added, and will continue to support the existing product.
The update will also incorporate gateways licensed from StarNine/Quarterdeck, add mail folders, include a new control panel to let users pick their favorite mail reader, and separate digital signatures from mail.
Lauta said that the Copland version of PowerTalk will be "totally new code" and will "answer all user concerns." It will be smaller and faster; it will also use OpenDoc for the interface, increasing cross-platform support, he added. The Copland version of PowerShare will use Apple's recently acquired Apple Internet Mail Server and will take advantage of features such as AppleShare users and groups. Apple declined to comment on a date for Copland.
