[fa.info-mac] Real Soon Now

info-mac@uw-beaver (info-mac) (07/17/84)

From: David.Anderson@CMU-CS-G
The local apple people hosted a user's group meeting here, and gave out some
updated guesses on software releases.  Here's what I copied down:

	MacTerm		August
	Editor&ASM	August
	FileVision	August
	Helix		August
	MacPascal	August-Sept
	level 2 Forth	Sept
	MacDraw		October
	MacProject	October
	Word		October
	Logo		October		;from the "Original Computer Camp"?
	MacBasic	November
	Lisp		Dec		;Original Computer Camp again
	full Pascal	Dec-Jan

I played with both the Tecmar and Davong winnies, and the Davong seems
much faster.  The Tecmar didn't seem any faster than a floppy (though it
hopefully is), while the Davong was really nice.  MacWrite and MacPaint
launched in a few seconds.  Both connect via Applebus through the modem
connector, and I believe both have another Applebus connector on the back.

There seems to be quite a lot of development underway.  Several database
packages were mentioned, including a couple of graphically oriented systems
that are claimed to be truly wonderful (FileVision and Helix).  Several
terminal emulators and file transfer utilities are being worked on, and
Haba is planning a whole series of desk accessories.  Daisy-wheel printers, a
video-digitizer, an Epson interface, and 3rd party micro-floppy drives were
all mentioned.

The editor/assembler package is what you'd expect.  It seemed
straightforward and reasonably complete.  Helix has an interesting graphical
programming environment, but it wasn't intuitive enough that we could get it
to actually do anything in 5 minutes.  MacDraw is just like LisaDraw, and I
can't wait.

info-mac@uw-beaver (info-mac) (07/17/84)

From: Richard Furuta <Furuta@washington.arpa>
On the subject of "Real Soon Now," I had reason to speak with people
at the local Byte Shop.  They tell me that PFS File and Report will be
out at the end of this month and that there will be a "Special
Introductory Price" of $150 for the set.  Apparently they'd seen demos
and sounded happy about them.  Now, I don't know anything at all about
PFS File and Report but these are words that seem to roll frequently
off the tongues of computer salespeople.  (If any of you know about
these, why not drop me a note, not to the list, and fill me in on what
I should know).

						--Rick
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