lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca (Larry Phillips) (08/26/90)
In <9008270223.AA07322@lilac.berkeley.edu>, Sewall@UConnVM.BITNET (Murph Sewall) writes: > VAPORWARE > Murphy Sewall |\/\/\/\/| | | | | | (e) (e) _______________________________________ | _) / | (c ,_____\ / Oh, Yeah, Right! | | (__( < | | / \ More Apple/IBM crap we can do without | /____\ \_______________________________________| / \ -- It is not possible to both understand and appreciate Intel CPUs. -D.Wolfskill +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | // Larry Phillips | | \X/ lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca -or- uunet!van-bc!lpami!lphillips | | COMPUSERVE: 76703,4322 -or- 76703.4322@compuserve.com | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
Sewall@UConnVM.BITNET (Murph Sewall) (08/27/90)
VAPORWARE
Murphy Sewall
From the September 1990 APPLE PULP
H.U.G.E. Apple Club (E. Hartford) News Letter
$15/year U.S. - $18/year Canadian
P.O. Box 18027
East Hartford, CT 06118
Call the "Bit Bucket" (203) 569-8739
Permission granted to copy with the above citation
Big Blue's Busy Fall.
IBM plans to introduce its first native i486 CPU computers
and a line of laptops this fall. The i486 model's 90 and 95
will offer XGA (1,024 by 768 resolution and 10 times faster
than the current 8514/A standard) at 25 MHz and 33 Mhz. A
pair of 50 Mhz versions are in beta test. The new 2.88
Mbyte 3.5 inch floppy drive (compatible with the current
1.44 Mbyte drive) will be standard on the native i486
models. The laptop line will lead off with a 16 MHz 80386SX
VGA model with a 40 Mbyte hard drive. At least four other
prototypes are circulating among IBM customer sites. The
really interesting models are the i486 version of the 22
pound 70P (not due until after the first of the year) and
two color laptops (386SX and i486). Big Blue reportedly
also is developing a 7 pound 80286 CGA notebook machine to
be marketed more as a portable terminal than a laptop PC.
- PC Week 16 July, 30 July, and 13 August
Set to Go.
IBM has announced plans to license Go Corporation's
pen-based (look Ma, no keyboard) operating system. Go
officials say that the pen and pad system is not
MS-DOS-based but is compatible with MS-DOS-based files. IBM
plans to begin testing "slate-style" laptops at 150 sites in
the near future. WordPerfect has announced plans to develop
a pen-based version of WordPerfect 5.0, and Lotus and
Borland have said they plan to support the environment. Go
may expect stiff competition from Microsoft which has
announced plans to add pen-based extensions to Windows
(Windows-H) and OS/2, but Windows-H is merely a
specification on paper at this point.
- InfoWorld 23 July and PC Week 13 August
OS/3?
Marina Pacifica may have to rename it's "OS/3" product, now
in beta test, unless they remembered to license that name
for Unisys which trademarked it some time ago. The Marina
operating environment permits up to 18 terminal or PC users
to access MS-DOS applications running on a single 386
(including the 386SX) or i486 host. Each attached user will
be able to switch among four separate programs, limited only
by the host's available memory. Marina built their OS/3
using technology licensed from Digital Research, but the
Marina system is much faster than Concurrent DOS. Scheduled
for shipment in November, OS/3 will be priced from $495 for
the smallest Standard edition to $1,595 for the Smartport
Edition. - PC Week 23 July and 6 August
This Month is NeXT Month.
September 18 is the scheduled debut date for NeXT
Computing's new Motorola 68040 workstations. The monochrome
version of the 15 MIP machine will have sticker price under
$5,000 and the 32-bit color version will sell for under
$10,000. The color machine use the superfast Motorola 96002
digital signal processing chip. Both workstations will come
with the new 2.8 Mbyte 3.5 inch (IBM compatible) floppy
drive and 100 Mbyte hard drive (the optical drive which is
standard on the current NeXT model will be optional).
- PC Week 30 July and InfoWorld 13 August
500 Word Per Minute Typing.
Caere Corporation will soon begin shipping the "Typist," a
hand-held scanner bundled with character-recognition
software that uses keyboard interrupts to direct characters
directly into any application. The 20K RAM resident (desk
accessory on the Mac, terminate and stay on the PC) Typist
has a 300 dot-per-inch five inch scan head and a virtually
transparent interface. The Mac version ($695) is slated to
ship in September and the PC version ($595) will be
available in the fourth quarter. - InfoWorld 6 August
K-12 Macs.
The first two models in Apple's long awaited line of low
cost Macs are set for an October 15 unveiling. The
monochrome "Mac Classic" is a close cousin of the popular SE
with an 8 MHz 68000 CPU and a 3.5 inch 1.44 Mbyte
SuperDrive. Apple has not yet decided whether to include
one or two Mbytes of RAM for the $1,295 list price. The
more powerful color machine, codenamed "Pinball," will be a
modular design closely resembling the Apple IIgs. Priced
between $3,000 and $4,000 with a SuperDrive and 40 Mbyte
hard disk, the Pinball is based on a 20 MHz 68030. After
the first of the year, Apple will introduce a $2,750 20 MHz
68020 system currently known as the Mac LC. All three K-12
machines have a single expansion slot which, in many cases,
will be filled with the optional Apple II card which Apple
has been field testing for about two years. In a related
move, Apple plans to replace the IIcx, possibly with a
design that retains the current system's features but can be
manufactured and sold for a significantly lower price.
- PC Week 6 August and InfoWorld 13 August
Mac in a II.
Before Apple offers it's IIgs card for the Macintosh (after
the first of the year), Cirtech promises to offer a
Macintosh card for the IIgs (in December). Cirtech's Duet
uses a 68020 processor, a custom ROM, and up to 8 Mbytes of
RAM. Duet recognizes standard Apple peripherals using the
IIgs's 65816 for I/O processing. A socket is available for
an optional 68882 math coprocessor. Cirtech claims the
system will outperform a Mac IIcx. Price information is not
yet available. - A2-Central August
Fine Arts Software.
Time Arts is demonstrating a Macintosh paint program which
simulates oils, water colors, and other mediums to give a
fine-arts appearance. Oasis, a complete rewrite of the
high-end Lumena PC paint program, is designed to work best
with a pressure-sensitive tablet and stylus instead of a
mouse. Oasis requires a Mac II (family) with 4 Mbytes of
memory, a hard disk, color monitor, and 32-bit Quickdraw.
Shipment is planned for October at a price under $750.
- InfoWorld 23 July
MacVideo.
Mass Microsystems plans to ship EasyVideo 8, a $599 NuBus
card for the Mac II, this month. EasyVideo 8 converts
presentations, animations, and software demonstrations into
a 256 color video format (for VCR's, monitors, or video
projectors). In October, VideoLogic will introduce a $2,995
8-bit graphics card for the Mac II that will capture, fade,
and mix still images with motion video, audio, and
graphics. VideoLogic's DVA-4000 video adapter already is
available for PC's and PS/2's. - PC Week 13 August
Outbound to License Mac ROM.
Apple and the makers of the nine pound Outbound laptop have
entered into an agreement that makes Outbound the first
third party licensee of Macintosh ROMs. At under $4,000,
the Outbound laptop is both a lighter and less expensive
alternative to Apple's MacAnvil. - PC Week 30 July
Apple II Marketing Strategy.
Late August is said to have been the prospective date for a
decision on Apple's new marketing strategy. Advocates for
returning to the company's roots (computing for fun as well
as for profit) are being listened to seriously by the firm's
most senior management. Apple is developing and testing new
CPUs (plural), but the decision of when and what to market
depends on more than just technological issues. The
unreleased IIgs operating System Disk (5.03) in use by
Apple's support group at the recent KansasFest developers
conference, appears to contain most of the new features
touted in early System Disk 6.0 rumors. Could it be that
Apple has just decided to change the designation for the
next release? In addition to improved memory utilization
(memory is no longer fragmented on bootup), direct access to
the modem port, and a few bug fixes, some interesting new
tools also are included.
- A2-Central and notes found in my electronic mailbox
General Magic
More information has surfaced about the specific character
of Atkinson, Hertzfeld, and Porat's "Personal Intelligent
Communicator" (see last month's column). The product is a
hand-held device that transmits video images, graphics,
text, and sound to computers or other devices. The crucial
technology is real-time compressed video and sound using
ordinary hard disks as buffers and storage devices.
Individual (home) users are the primary target market. A
major breakthrough in compression algorithms will be needed
to meet cost and performance objectives. That breakthrough
has not yet been achieved.
- PC Week 16 July and InfoWorld 23 July
MacTerminal 3.0
Version 3.0 of Apple's terminal emulation software for
communicating with VAX/VMS and UNIX systems should ship
September 14 ($125). DEC VT320 emulation is added.
- PC Week 6 August
FileMaker Pro.
Claris's rewrite of FileMaker II, originally scheduled to
ship in June (see last May's column), is now expected in
early September. - InfoWorld 23 July
More Sharp Wizards
This month, Sharp will begin shipping the new Signature line
of pocket organizers which add an outline processor,
business card database, and on-line help to the functions of
the original Wizard line. Optional IC card software
includes a Lotus compatible three-dimensional spreadsheet.
The 10 ounce Signatures have a 40 character by eight line
display, a QWERTY keyboard and can transfer data with a PC
or Macintosh. The 64K OZ-8000 will list for $359.95 and the
128K OZ-8200 will retail for $399.99. - InfoWorld 23 July
Another Sinclair.
Sir Clive Sinclair is looking for a partner to develop and
manufacture his design for a 200 MIP bipolar, battery
powered "hyper-RISC" processor than will use downloaded
microcode which will enable it to emulate any other
processor (including floating point I/O and memory
management). - InfoWorld 30 July
Hopeful Codename.
Quattro Pro 2.0, now in beta test, is codenamed "Buddha"
because Borland hopes it will assume the "Lotus position" in
the spreadsheet market. - InfoWorld 13 August
Radio Modem.
UDS expects to release a $1,295 wireless modem in October.
The 15.5 ounce DR 96 allows PCs, terminals, and other
devices to communicate at 9600 baud. - InfoWorld 13 August
WordPerfect for Windows.
WordPerfect for Windows, due early next year, will provide
all the functions and be fully file-compatible with the
current DOS version. The main new attractions of the
Windows version will be mouse support and pull down menus.
- PC Week 6 August
|\/\/\/\/| <Sewall@UConnVM.BITNET>
| | <Sewall%UConnVM.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.Edu>
| | ...psuvax1!uconnvm.bitnet!sewall
| (e) (e) _______________________
| _) / | Prof. Murphy Sewall
(c ,_____\ / Oh, Yeah, Right! | Marketing Dept. U-41-M
| (__( < | 368 Fairfield Road
| / \ Don't have a cow, man.| Storrs, CT 06269-2041
/____\ \_______________________|
/ \a218@mindlink.UUCP (Charlie Gibbs) (08/28/90)
I say keep posting the VAPORWARE columns. As Murph pointed
out, the volume is actually quite small compared to such subjects
as items for sale, "My hard disk/A1950/A1084 just died," "Where
can I get cheap memory," "Montgomery Grant sucks," etc., all of
which I skip.
Actually, I value these columns because they give a quick look
at what's happening elsewhere in the industry. IBM and Mac freaks
might think they're the only thing in the universe, but I'd rather
not fall into that trap.
Keep up the good work!
Charlie_Gibbs@mindlink.UUCP
"I'm cursed with hair from HELL!" -- Night CourtSEWALL@UCONNVM.BITNET (Murph Sewall) (08/28/90)
On Sun, 26 Aug 90 23:44 EDT you said: >I'm curious why this is posted in comp.sys.amiga. This is honest >curiosity, not a flame or argument starter. :-) I'll take (and use) all the Amiga rumors that I can get (the only criteria is that it NOT be shipping by the first of the month that the column is for). Frankly, I think the Amiga doesn't have the visibility it deserves. The paucity of Amiga items in the more general computer press doesn't help. I'd hope that one response to circulating the column to Amiga readers would be passing along positive things about the machine -- I'm told that a number of developers use the column as a "clipping service." Presumably, they'd be more likely to see the Amiga as an opportunity if they heard more about it (developing software for forthcoming hardware for instance). As to whether sending the column to comp.sys.amiga is worthwhile, I get about an even number of "Hell YES!" vs "What the HELL?" messages. On the grounds that the subject line is clear and all of you are bright enough to skip/delete/dev null if you aren't interested, I send it for those who are interested. It's only 10K or so (tiny by today's standards) and news distribution is pretty efficient. As near as I can tell, the 'benefit/cost' ratio is non-negative. /s Murph <Sewall%UConnVM.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.Edu> [Internet] or ...{psuvax1 or mcvax}!uconnvm.bitnet!sewall [UUCP] + Standard disclaimer applies ("The opinions expressed are my own" etc.)
rehrauer@apollo.HP.COM (Steve Rehrauer) (08/29/90)
In article <9008270223.AA07322@lilac.berkeley.edu> Sewall@UConnVM.BITNET (Murph Sewall) writes: >This Month is NeXT Month. >September 18 is the scheduled debut date for NeXT >Computing's new Motorola 68040 workstations. Yeah right. Or more accurately, they may be shown on that date, but don't expect any to be shipping for at least a couple of months after. The '040 isn't ready yet. -- >>"Aaiiyeeee! Death from above!"<< | (Steve) rehrauer@apollo.hp.com "Spontaneous human combustion - what luck!"| Apollo Computer (Hewlett-Packard)
pashdown@shotput.es.com@bambam.UUCP (Pete Ashdown) (08/31/90)
Sewall@UConnVM.BITNET (Murph Sewall) writes: >Mac in a II. >Before Apple offers it's IIgs card for the Macintosh (after >the first of the year), Cirtech promises to offer a >Macintosh card for the IIgs (in December). Cirtech's Duet >uses a 68020 processor, a custom ROM, and up to 8 Mbytes of ^^^^^^^^^^^^ Does this mean that someone has finally developed a Mac clone ROM? If so, is it the 256K (Mac II) ROM? () () -=Adolescent Deformed Karate Lobsters!=- " ( " ) - 'Like Linguini, where's my house slippers?' / ( ) ( ) 'I thot I tol you to shaddup, Ricotta!!' () () /|\ Pete Ashdown pashdown@esunix.es.com ...utah-cs!esunix!pashdown /|\