Sewall@UCONNVM.BITNET (Murph Sewall) (06/27/91)
VAPORWARE
Murphy Sewall
From the July 1991 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 redistribute with the above citation
These are rumors folks;
we reserve the right to be dead wrong!
And a Utility Infielder to be Named Later?
An air of mystery surrounds exactly what has or will go on in a
prospective cross licensing deal between Apple and IBM. While each
company is interested in obtaining access to technology developed by the
other, the rumor that IBM plans to license Macintosh System 7 for the
RS/6000 PowerStation line is a bit farfetched. IBM does plan to include
several Mac-like features in the new OS/2 "Workplace Shell" user
interface and wants a licensing deal that will avoid any legal action by
Apple. Apple is interested in having its Publish and Subscribe, Data
Access Language (DAL), and QuickTime technologies become compatible with
IBM's PCs. Apple also may incorporate some portions of OS/2, such as
Named Pipes in "Pink," its entirely new object-oriented RISC operating
system. IBM is pressing Apple to join a consortium to popularize Big
Blue's own RISC architecture (IBM's response to the ACE Initiative - see
May's column?). However, insiders say that Apple has narrowed its
choices for the initial implementation of Pink to either the Motorola
88110 or the same MIPS R4000 CPU chosen by the ACE group. One widely
reported proposal would be for Motorola to obtain the right to coproduce
the IBM RISC CPU in return for Pink compatibility. It may be some time
(Fall?) before any formal agreement is announced.
- InfoWorld 27 May and 17 June and PC Week 17 June
In the Pink.
Apple has launched a total strategic redesign of the company. According
to Apple president Michael Spindler, by January of next year, Apple will
be "...an operating systems company that happens to sell hardware." The
goal is to focus on developing important proprietary technology which
can be exported to a variety of hardware platforms. The object-oriented
RISC operating system known as "Pink" is at the heart of this strategy.
Pink will probably be available eventually for multiple CPU families
(similar to UNIX) and will run applications which are compatible with
today's Macintosh System 7. If "Pink" sticks to its current schedule,
it will ship in mid-1992 (System 7 arrived nine months behind the
originally announced release date and neither Windows nor OS/2 stuck to
the original deadline). - InfoWorld 27 May and 17 June
IBM's Quad i486.
A handful of beta sites have received an IBM server built around four 50
MHz i486 chips (actually two CPU pairs - one pair handles application
processing while the other manages I/O). IBM hopes to offer this 122
MIP server for less than $15,000 late this year when the 50 MHz i486 CPU
is expected to achieve volume production. The system will be
upgradeable to six processors. IBM has hinted that Novell is the
developer behind the server's asymmetric multiprocessing network
operating system. - PC Week and InfoWorld 10 June
Massively Parallel i486.
Sequent is rumored to be preparing to announce an air-cooled Unix-based
computer with 28 (yes twenty-eight) 50 MHz i486 chips. Engineers claim
it will be more powerful than an IBM 3090 mainframe. - PC Week 10 June
NeXT Takes a RISC.
Late this year or early in 1992 NeXT will introduce a Motorola 88110
workstation that triples the performance of today's black cube without
raising the current price. The RISC NeXTstation will be configured with
12 MBytes of RAM, a 100 MByte hard drive, and a 16-inch color monitor.
The bad news is that software will have to be completely recompiled to
run on the new system. - InfoWorld 10 June
Windows 3.1 (Continued).
Beta copies of the new version of Windows planned for release in the
fall (see last month's column) contain a new caching utility that speeds
DOS applications by bypassing both DOS and the PC's BIOS chip. The
"FastDisk" 386 enhanced mode virtual memory utility communicates
directly with the hard disk controller. Some independent software
vendors view the strategy as risky and warn of possible damage to users'
hard disks. Windows 3.1 also includes new ease-of-use functions such as
a File Open dialog that lists directories as folders (where ever did
they get that clever idea?). Beta copies contain 13 TrueType fonts
based on technology licensed from Apple.
- PC Week and InfoWorld 17 June
Video Transformer.
The folks at Commodore plan on marketing $999 (list) CD-player that
attaches to TV sets and uses infrared remote control or optional
trackball or joystick to play high quality video games, view multimedia
presentations, and listen to audio recordings. Hackers will note that
inside CDTV is most of a Commodore Amiga computer. With the addition of
a hard disk, floppy drive, keyboard, monitor, and probably a mouse the
video game metamorphoses into a full fledged Amiga. - TidBITS 20 May
Multimediaware.
SuperMac Technology has already announced a trio of products (for
September release) designed to use Apple's new QuickTime multimedia
technology. QuickTime, currently available to developers as alpha
software, is a series of tools providing a common scheme for
synchronizing a Macintosh with audio and video hardware. SuperMac's
VideoSpigot and VideoSpigot Pro along with its RealTime software will
record, digitize, and display full-motion video from a standard VCR or
camcorder connected to a Mac LC or IIsi. The VideoSpigot will retail
for $499 while VideoSpigot Pro, capable of supporting displays up to 21
inches, will list for $1,899. Microsoft has demonstrated a Windows
application using similar 10 to 1 still-image compression (decompression
in less than one second) and on-screen motion sequencing at up to 15
frames per second. IBM is planning to offer a video digitizing board,
3.5 inch optical drive, and voice recognition system codeveloped with
Dragon Systems of Newton, Massachusetts that will turn PS/2s into
multimedia machines. - PC Week 27 May and 10 June
Poor Man's Windows.
GeoWorks, makers of "windowing" software compatible with even 8088 PCs,
has inked a deal with Progressive Solutions to bundle Back and Forth
task switching with Ensemble 2.0 in September. Standard DOS
applications will appear as icons in Ensemble. It will be possible to
switch back and forth between DOS and Ensemble while maintaining cut and
paste between applications. - InfoWorld 3 June
Solid Ink Color Printers.
After more than three years in development both Dataproducts Corporation
and Tektronix plan to introduce solid-ink, plain paper color printers by
the end of August. While the initial introductions will be in the
pricey $5,000 to $10,000 range, analysts expect plain paper color
printers with RISC processors and PostScript to retail for less than
$4,000 by the end of next year. - PC Week 3 June
20th Century Albatross?
Infogrip's other new contribution for the computerist who has (nearly)
everything is the Walk-Around Chordable Computer with Private Eye. It's
a portable 8086, 80286, or 80386 DOS computer that is worn around the
neck like a guitar. The keyboard is hand held and display is handled by
the head-mounted Private Eye, which weighs less than three ounces and
provides what looks like a twelve inch screen floating a few feet in
front of the user. If the Walk-Around sounds like a potential pain in
the neck, Infogrip's CompuCap (that's right, a computer inside of a
"hardhat") may add new meaning to "thinking cap!" - TidBITS 27 May
Icon Abuse?
Beta testers report that 1-2-3 for Windows (aka 1-2-3/W) has more than
70 icons. A separate help-button is needed to explain what all the
little pictures mean. A "stable beta" is expected by Independence Day,
but the planned summer ship date is likely to turn out to be
mid-September if not later. - InfoWorld 27 May
DR DOS 6.0.
Digital Research continues to work to stay at least one feature ahead of
Microsoft's MS-DOS. DR DOS 6.0 currently is in beta test; a fall
release is planned. The DRI upgrade will offer a high performance file
system using Super PC-Kwik disk-caching technology, increased use of
high memory, significant new security features, and at least some
multitasking. DRI still hasn't decided between two beta versions, one
permits background processing on 386 machines while the other offers
task switching only. Testers say version 6 is quicker and has tighter
code (requires less memory) than DR DOS 5.0 which claims more than one
million users. - PC Week 10 June
3-D Software for Macintoshes with System 7.
Specular will release a System 7-friendly update to Infini-D later this
summer with the ability to create and manipulate 3-D TrueType fonts. If
the program also has other System 7 features, such as publish and
subscribe, 3-D fonts will easily transport to programs. In the fall a
new version of Ray Dream Designer will use Apple Events to send a 3-D
image across a network to a faster Mac for rendering, essentially
performing a form of distributed network processing. - TidBITS 20 May
Shirt Pocket Computing.
Coming soon from Infogrip - the Mini-BAT another palmtop computer like
the Sharp Wizard or the new HP 95LX. The Mini-BAT does not use DOS, but
does come with word processing, database, and calendar software. The
NiCad battery pack of the 64K (upgradeable to 576K) computer reputedly
will last through 40 hours of active use. Optional extras include a
Lotus 1-2-3 compatible spreadsheet, a pocket fax modem, an alphanumeric
pager, a kit for transferring data to a PC or a Mac, and last but not
least, foreign language translation programs for Spanish, French, and
German. - TidBITS 20 May
System 7 Features Under A/Ux.
Apple plans to include System 7 features such as DAL in A/Ux, the
Macintosh version of Unix, by the end of the summer. Database vendors
Oracle, Informix, and Ingres have announced plans to release DAL-based
versions of their software permitting A/Ux Macs to act as database
servers for Macintoshes running System 7 as well as others running A/Ux.
- PC Week 20 May
Microsoft Applications.
Coming by the end of the year, a Windows port of Works and an
entry-level desktop publishing product. - PC Week 17 June
Postponed.
Word Perfect for Windows was originally planned for last month, but
didn't enter alpha testing until late May. Eager beavers can subscribe
to the Software Subscription Service (800-321-4566 ext 2-2685) and try
out a beta copy this month. If testing goes well, Word Perfect for
Windows could be available at retail in time for the opening of school
in September. - InfoWorld 20 May
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