Sewall@UCONNVM.BITNET (Murph Sewall) (03/30/91)
VAPORWARE
Murphy Sewall
From the April 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!
Pen-Based Portables with Keyboards.
This Fall's hardware for the Go (see last September's
column) and Microsoft Pen Windows (see February's column)
operating systems will be transitional machines which
include fold down, detachable keyboards. The motherboard
and disk drives will be behind the LCD, pen input screen so
that the unit can be used in the field without the keyboard.
- InfoWorld 4 March
Not an April Fool's Joke.
NuTek expects manufacturers to begin shipping Macintosh
clones based on their chipsets (see last month's column) by
the end of the year. Some analysts believe that, by that
time, a 68030 Mac compatible with hard disk and color
monitor will retail for less than $700. - MacWorld April
Two New PS/2s.
The 20 MHz 80386SX PS/2 Model 40 with an AT bus (see last
November's column) will debut in early June along with a 20
MHz version of the current Model 55. The Model 40 has been
in beta tests for more than six months, but Big Blue doesn't
want to introduce it until the new Model 55 is ready.
Executives fear the Model 40 would "cannibalize" sales of
the present version. Both new models might have a new 2.88
Mbyte "super" floppy drive (maybe, the super is deja vu --
see the September 1990 and January 1991 columns).
- PC Week 11 March
PS/3.
IBM's next generation will join Compaq (see last month's
column) and Apple (see the February and December 1990
columns) as a RISC computer. The RISC PS/3 running the same
operating systems (AIX-3 and OS/2 version 3) as the current
RS/6000 PowerStations will be introduced in late 1992 or
early 1993. - InfoWorld 11 March
Unicode to Replace ASCII.
A coalition of both hardware and software vendors, including
all the major players, is backing an effort to replace the
current 128 characters of ASCII. Unicode will be a 16-bit
standard supporting more than 27,000 characters (out of a
possible 65,536). A computer system based on the proposed
standard would be able to display characters from virtually
every alphabetic and ideographic system on Earth.
Mathematical and typographical characters, such as dingbats,
also will be supported. None of the companies has announced
a release date for software based on the Unicode standard.
- InfoWorld 25 February
XGA for Clones.
IBM has promised members of the Video Electronics Standards
Association that it will soon offer original equipment
manufacturers the XGA chip set. IBM also plans to introduce
a version of XGA for EISA 80386 systems.
- InfoWorld 25 February
Mac Accelerators.
Radius Inc. of San Jose and IIR Inc. of Cumming, Georgia
both will be announcing Motorola 68040 accelerator cards for
the Macintosh II line during the second quarter. The Nubus
cards are expected to boost the performance of the IIci past
that the IIfx. - InfoWorld 18 February
40MHz i860 RISC Station.
Samsung Software America plans a June introduction for a 40
MHz workstation based on the Intel i860 RISC chip which was
originally designed as a coprocessor for the i486 (see the
February and March 1989 columns). Workstations based on the
chip had been expected last year (reported in the December
1989 column). If Samsung delivers, look for an 8 Mbyte
system with a 640 Mbyte hard drive and a 1,280 by 1,204
monochrome monitor for about $7,000. - PC Week 18 February
IIgs SuperDrive.
Apple's Ralph Russo told a user group in Minnesota that
Apple plans to offer a SuperDrive card (at long last) for
the Apple IIgs. No date or price information was offered
(perhaps after the Spring thaw?)
- found in my electronic mailbox
Your Local Macintosh Dealer?
A hot rumor "where the boys are" is that on April 15th Apple
will remove the Apple II computers from the dealers price
and order lists. The same source also says on that date it
will be announced that a major nationwide department store
chain will begin selling the Apple II line (I only report
'em; you decide whether to believe 'em).
- found in my electronic mail box
MS DOS 5.0
Why has Microsoft delayed the introduction of DOS 5.0 (see
last January's column) to late May or early June? Could it
be that the potential for running Windows applications
without bothering with the Windows environment might have
something to do with it or is it? Or, is more time needed
to thoroughly test the operating system with network drivers
as Microsoft says? - InfoWorld 4 March and PC Week 11 March
More Viruses Than You Want to Know About.
The MS-DOS Anti-virus software from Central Point which is
in beta test has a manual listing 300 DOS viruses. Entries
also name aliases and symptoms. Fortunately, the program
can stop them all. -InfoWorld 25 February
Beta 1-2-3 for Windows.
Lotus should have shipped the beta version of its Windows
spreadsheet by the time this column appears. 1-2-3 for
Windows, currently codenamed Rockport, will include solver
capabilities and support the Windows Multiple Document
Interface (MDI) protocol. If the beta test goes well, look
for the finished product by midsummer.
- PC Week and InfoWorld 11 March
FoxPro 2.0
The new relational data base from Fox Software should appear
this month, but without the integrated database compiler
that had been expected. A separately packaged tool kit will
contain an executable (EXE) compiler and a LAN version. The
new version will be able to run in Windows 3.0 protected
mode. - PC week 11 March
Dbase IV Data Entry Tools.
Although the product isn't in beta test yet, Ashton-Tate
expects to ship a new version of their relational database
this summer. According to A-T president Bill Lyons and vice
president David Proctor, the new version will incorporate
features of the "Control Center Booster" which allows data
entry operators to select and import data from other
application's files during data entry. The executives also
said they expect a Windows version of Dbase IV to ship
sometime this year. - InfoWorld 25 February
Software Publishing Fenestrates.
Fred Gibbons, president and CEO of Software Publishing
(SPC), says his firm will be bringing out Windows versions
of Professional Write, Harvard Graphics, Harvard
Geographics, and Info Alliance. SPC also is about to beta
test a drawing and illustration program for Windows
codenamed Gunslinger. - InfoWorld 18 February
SAS for Windows.
A full implementation of the SAS multivariate statistical
program which will include support for object linking and
embedding and dynamic data exchange is expected to ship for
Windows during the fourth quarter. SAS version 2.0 for OS/2
with the same features also will be released at the same
time according to Randy Betancourt, workstation manager for
SAS Institute. - InfoWorld 25 February
Claris To Do Windows.
When Apple re-absorbed Claris last summer, there were
conflicting rumors about the fate of the software
developer's Windows projects (see the August and September
1990 columns). Recent, conspicuous classified advertising
to fill staff positions for Windows development are a clear
indication that Windows projects will proceed.
- PC Week 11 and 25 February
PageMaker Update.
Aldus is preparing a faster version of PageMaker 4.0 for the
Macintosh. Maybe Microsoft can make Windows faster for MS
DOS users? - MacWorld April
/s Murph <Sewall%UConnVM.BITNET@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu> BITNET/Internet
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+ Standard disclaimer applies ("The opinions expressed are my own" etc.)