SEWALL@UCONNVM.BITNET (Murph Sewall) (09/28/89)
VAPORWARE
Murphy Sewall
From the October 1989 APPLE PULP
H.U.G.E. Apple Club (E. Hartford) News Letter
$15/year
P.O. Box 18027
East Hartford, CT 06118
Call the "Bit Bucket" (203) 569-8739
Permission granted to copy with the above citation
Virus Alert!
Is it Columbus Day (October 12) yet? Are you using an
MS-DOS computer? According to Tom Patterson, a security
specialist at Centel Federal Systems of Reston, Virginia, a
self-propagating, network-transferable virus (possibly two
viruses) is may erase track 0 of thousands of hard disks
when the system clock says it's October 12. The virus
reportedly originated with a group of European hackers in
August and spreads by adding either 1,168 or 1,280 bytes of
code to .COM files (except for COMMAND.COM or any other .COM
file with a 'D' as the seventh character). Information
about the Columbus Day Virus, also known as DataCrime 89, or
the Icelandic Virus, is available from Centel Federal
Systems (800) 843-4850
- InfoWorld 11 September and PC Week 11 September
Gigabit Network.
Although BITNET, which links colleges and universities in
the US, Canada, and Europe, may continue to plod along at
9,600 baud, the Office of Science and Technology has
proposed that Congress authorize a 1-gigabit (100 megabaud)
network to become fully operational in 1996. The Office is
asking $1.9 billion over five years for the Federal High
Performance Computing Program which includes plans for
faster supercomputers and better software as well as about
$390 million for the National Research and Education
Network. Although the network will be developed for
research purposes, plans call for it to be open to
commercial applications by the turn of the century.
- InfoWorld 11 September
The NeXT Step.
Even though its first machine's operating system is barely
finished, NeXT is on the verge of introducing a new computer
built around the Motorola 68040. The NeXT-40 will be four
times faster than the 68030 machine and will permit the
instruction cache and data cache to be accessed
simultaneously. NeXT is ready to announce now, but Motorola
is insisting that the press conference be delayed until the
68040 is actually being shipped. Volume production is
slated for the first quarter of 1990.
- PC Week 4 and 11 September
Faster Mac II's.
Siclone Sales and Engineering recently introduced a 33 MHz
accelerator for the Macintosh IIcx which plugs directly into
the 68030 socket. A 50 MHz version will be coming soon.
- InfoWorld 11 September
Atari ST Laptop.
This month Atari is expected to announce an Atari-ST
compatible laptop computer (code-named "STacey") for $1,500
($2,000 for a model with a 20 Mbyte hard disk). The CPU
will be an 8Mhz Motorola 68000. An optional cartridge will
permit the STacey to run Macintosh software (if you can get
the ROM chips). - Random Access 9 September
The Littlest IBM.
IBM Japan has developed a six pound "notebook" sized AT
clone computer built around the 80286 CPU. It will run for
two hours on its rechargeable battery and could be
introduced in the U.S. by year's end. IBM also plans to
offer a battery powered 80386 Laptop PS/2 next year.
- InfoWorld 28 August and Random Access 9 September
Unobtainable RT-3s.
Although IBM is scheduled to announce its line of
microchannel based RISC machines (see last month's column)
this month, they won't be ready to ship until 1990 due to
lingering bugs in the NextStep user interface. Rumor has it
that the "spokesperson" for the new line will be cartoon
character Hagar the Horrible (No, No! You fools, first you
pillage, THEN you burn!). - PC Week 28 August
[Late breaking (post publication deadline) news: the
Oct 16 press conference for the RT has been postponed.
There remains a possibility that the announcement will be
made before the end of this year, but more likely 1990.]
DEC Age of Aquarius.
Digital Equipment Corp. will be only a month behind IBM (see
above) in announcing a new line of RISC-based machines. The
DEC System 9000 series, code-named Aquarius, will be
announced in November for shipment next May.
- PC Week 4 September
Should You Wait to Buy the Even Better Future Model?
Remember the ambitious "game plan of migration" for IBM PS/2
line described by former entry systems president William
Lowe in February 1988 (see the March '88 Vaporware column)?
The current "scorecard" for products promised by the end of
1989 is four of 11. Lowe left IBM for Xerox, and current
IBM executives "...have to claim ignorance" about Lowe's
unfulfilled prophecies. - InfoWorld 28 August
The '286 is Dead, Long Live the 586.
According to Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, Microsoft will
no longer be supporting 80286 architecture two years from
now. He expects the i586 (see August's column) to begin
appearing in commercial machines in early 1991. Intel's
senior vice president, David House, told Unix developers
last August that the i686 containing 22 million transistors
will appear in late 1995 or early '96. By the turn of the
century Intel expects to deliver the 100 million transistor
i786 running at 250 Mhz while occupying only 1 square inch.
- InfoWorld 28 August and 4 September
Applescript.
Apple will release a Hypertalk-based user scripting language
for controlling both applications and system functions
"shortly after" the early 1990 release of Macintosh System
7.0. The language will require System 7.0 and will contain
statements for executing standard Mac commands as well as
commands that are specific to particular applications.
Apple is considering supplying an "engine" which will
compile and execute scripts upon request by compliant
applications. - InfoWorld 21 August
A More Perfect Version.
Word Perfect version 5.1 is expected to ship later this
year. The new version adds table support and links to
spreadsheets along with pull-down windows and a large number
of minor enhancements. However, Word Perfect 2.0 for the
Macintosh won't make it until sometime next year. Look for
a new drawing, charting, and presentation graphics package
called, you guessed it, Draw Perfect at Comdex in November.
- InfoWorld 21 August and 11 September
and MacWeek 12 September
Word 5.0 for Xenix.
Microsoft Word 5.0 for the Xenix (a variant of Unix)
operating system is in beta test and expected to ship by the
end of the year. Xenix versions of Microsoft Works and
Excel also will be forthcoming, but schedules have not been
set. Excel spreadsheet information will be transparently
portable across local area networks between the DOS, OS/2,
and Unix versions of the program. - InfoWorld 4 September
Is There a Market for OS/2 Applications?
Informix Software has finished developing an OS/2
Presentation Manager version of its popular Macintosh
spreadsheet - Wingz but has shelved plans to offer it until
a viable OS/2 market develops. OS/2 is in the process of
undergoing an apparently endless series of improvements and
enhancements (referred to by one industry pundit as
"dribbleware") that is keeping the operating system in
"eternal beta." - InfoWorld 28 August
Borland Does Windows.
After proclaiming that they would not develop applications
for Microsoft Windows, company officials recently announced
that they would begin developing languages and programming
tools for Windows as well as MS-DOS and OS/2. Borland also
announced plans to ship a version of the C++ programming
language. - InfoWorld 11 September
Lotus Suit Slows Intro of VP-Expert for the Mac.
Officials of Paperback Software blame the cost and
distraction of defending themselves against Lotus's "look
and feel" suit for the delay in releasing their VP-Expert
application for the Macintosh. The company now hopes for a
first quarter release. When it is completed, VP-Expert/Mac
will allow nonprogrammers to create expert systems using
"if/then" rules, while more sophisticated users can use a
Pascal-like object oriented language. - InfoWorld 28 August
Ashton-Tate Rhymes with Late.
FullWrite 2.0 isn't even ready for beta testing yet, so
there's little chance of meeting the projected year-end
release. Executives are debating whether to develop an
interim improvement for the less than successful dBase
Macintosh or await a dBase IV Macintosh which might not get
finished by the end of next year. A-T president and
chairman, Ed Esber, has indicated that when dBase IV/Mac is
released it will be compatible with DOS and OS/2 versions
but not with the existing Macintosh version.
- InfoWorld 21 August and MacWeek 12 September
___________________________________________________________
(~~~~) / \
( 0 0 ) | (Prof) Murph Sewall <Sewall@UConnVM.BITNET> |
(| > |) ___/ Marketing Department <Sewall%UConnVM.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.Edu>|
( \__/ ) <___ School of Business ...psuvax1!uconnvm.bitnet!sewall |
(____) \_ U. of Connecticut *standard disclaimer applies* /
\__________________________________________________________/
(This .sig "borrowed" from Johnson Earls <Jearls@Polyslo.CalPoly.Edu> Thanx!)
"Studies show 80 percent of all Americans know about home computers. That's
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