SEWALL@UCONNVM.BITNET (Murph Sewall) (08/28/89)
Last month's "scoop" was about the Internet gateway to Compu$erve
(compuserve.com), this month, guess who told Spenser F. Katt about
mcimail.com (PC Week 21 August p. 124 :-)
Details follow this month's column.
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VAPORWARE
Murphy Sewall
From the September 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
Better IIgs?
Last month, Apple announced an improved IIgs that is almost
exactly as described in last May's column. There are no
hints of any other new IIgs models, such as the long rumored
IIgs+, in the near future. Perhaps those longing for a
faster Apple II will switch to the 10 megahertz IIgs clone
shown by Video Technologies at the Apple II Developers'
Conference in Kansas in July. Video Technologies claims
they will have a design and ROM chips that do not infringe
on Apple's copyrights and patents by the time their clone in
introduced next year. The Laser-gs has 2 expansion slots,
supports AppleTalk, and will retail in the $800 range.
- Thanks to Grant Delaney (who was there) for the details
68030 Amiga.
Commodore's Amiga computers have been quietly finding their
way into the corporate world as inexpensive graphics
workstations. The Amiga will continue to maintain pace with
Apple's Macintosh with the introduction of a model built
around Motorola's 68030 processor this Fall.
- PC Week 31 July
Codename RT-3.
IBM will attempt to become a major player in the technical
workstation market on October 17 when a new line of five
Micro Channel RT (RISC Technology) computers is announced.
The new entry level workstation will have the footprint of a
PS/2 Model 30 and offer performance starting in the 18 to 20
MIPS range. The Number crunching power of the $11,000 to
$12,000 model calculates out at 7 megaflops. The higher end
models will be based on IBM's proprietary ROMP-II RISC chip,
but the entry level system may use Intel's i860. Although
the systems will use the AIX 3.0 operating system, a
decision has not been reached on the user interface. In the
past, IBM has said it would provide Motif and Next Step with
AIX. - InfoWorld 24 July and 7 August
Macintosh Workstation.
Volume shipment of DayStar Digital's 50 MHz 68030 (see last
May's column) Macintosh II accelerator is scheduled for
October. The 50/30 Accelerator is available for the
original Mac II as well as the IIx series. Benchmark test
using a prototype of the 50/30 board showed overall
performance better than twice that of a stock IIx, and in
math intensive applications, the board is more than three
times as quick as a standard IIx. The 50/30 Accelerator
will retail for $5,995. - MacWeek 25 July
i486 Delay.
Last month's column must have jinxed Intel. No sooner did
it appear than vendors were told to expect "later delivery."
David Kirkey, vice president of sales and marketing at ALR,
said Intel had originally promised initial shipments of the
chip in September but is now saying October or November. A
spokeswoman for Intel maintained that the chip is "totally
on schedule" for fourth quarter volume shipments.
- InfoWorld 14 August
New Compaq's.
Compaq's first Extended Industry Standard Architecture
(EISA) computer will be an i486 model to be announced in
October. The Compaq 486 also will have a hard disk with
cache memory which yields an average access speed of roughly
10 milliseconds. By year's end, Compaq plans to announce a
dual i486 model that can be expanded into a departmental
computer with 32 Mbytes of RAM and 10 gigabytes of erasable
optical storage. The fully configured version of Compaq's
twin processor machine is expected to cost between $40,000
and $50,000 but deliver performance equivalent to a $200,000
DEC VAX or IBM AS/400. - PC Week 24 July
Who Needs OS/2 (Continued)?
IBM and Microsoft have agreed to merge DOS with a version of
Windows 3.0 and deliver the combined product sometime next
year. Microsoft is expected to deliver one more version of
MS-DOS between now and the introduction of the combined DOS
with Windows. If Windows permits applications to run in as
much as 16 Mbytes of memory (see July's column), users may
be able to take forever migrating to OS/2 with PM.
- InfoWorld 7 August
Mass Storage Drives.
Storage Dimensions has announced an optical-magneto drive
for the PS/2 and Macintosh computers with 1-gigabyte disks.
The drive has an average seek time of but 35 milliseconds.
Several manufacturers have announced 650 Mbyte read/write
optical drives with 95 millisecond average access times for
shipment in September: Procom Technology $4,950, Microtech
International $4,795, and Supermac Technologies $4,999.
- InfoWorld 14 August and Random Access 19 August
Apple's "MCA."
Apple has announced plans to set standards for connecting
media devices such as videodisc, videotape, and CD audio
players to the Mac. Currently, developers have to write
custom drivers for each device. In December, Apple will
ship sample device drivers, specifications, and user
interface guidelines for the Media Control Architecture
(MCA) standard. - PC Week 14 August and MacWeek 15 August
32-bit OS/2.
Microsoft plans to release the first version of OS/2 able to
run 32-bit applications early next year. OS/2 version 2.0
will require an 80386 or i486 CPU, but only selected potions
of the initial release will take advantage of the faster
32-bit data path. Conversion to a full 32-bit
implementation will be done in stages permitting release of
portions of the operating system months sooner than
otherwise. - PC Week 31 July
Outline Fonts for PM.
In an effort to keep up with the Macintosh, Agfa
Compugraphic's Intellifont "outline" font technology will be
added to OS/2's Presentation Manager. When OS/2 2.0 is
released next year, PM's present two fonts will be replaced
by 12 outline typefaces embedded in the system. Microsoft
plans to increase the number to 50 fonts within three months
of the initial release. - PC Week 7 August
Color LaserWriter.
Motorola is putting the finishing touches on a new digital
signal processor called the 96002 intended for a forthcoming
Apple color laser printer. - PC Week 14 August
Mac Word Perfect 1.0.3.
Word Perfect has announced an upgrade for their Macintosh
product which makes it compatible with MS-DOS Word Perfect
5.0 files and supports their graphics and text formats. The
new release will ship in the next couple of months.
Upgrades for owners of the current version will be available
for $10. - InfoWorld 14 August
SPSS-X on a Desktop.
The Presentation Manager version of SPSS is scheduled to
ship later this month with the SPSS-Mac expected in October
or November (see last February's column). 4 Mbytes of RAM
and a math coprocessor are recommended.
- PC Week 31 July and InfoWorld 7 and 14 August
Too Heavy, Too Slow, and Too Expensive.
Rumors about the demise of the LapMac (last month's column)
are greatly exaggerated (to paraphrase Mark Twain). It's
scheduled for introduction on September 20 along with the 25
MHz Macintosh IIci (described in July's column). The 17
pound SE compatible laptop will retail for $6,500 with 2
Mbytes of RAM and a 40 Mbyte hard disk.
- MacWeek 25 July and 1 and 8 August
Claris to Issue PC Software?
Rumor has it that Claris, Apple's software spinoff, has been
developing a program for the IBM PC. No information is yet
available about the program's purpose (PCWorks?).
- PC Week 14 August
Microsoft Office.
In late September, Microsoft will offer a $949 CD-ROM disk
for the Macintosh which will include Word, Excel,
PowerPoint, Mail, online tutorials, documentation, and a
HyperCard interface. The disk will also contain some third
party clipart and template libraries, Silicon Beach
Software's SuperPaint 1.1, 350 Adobe screen fonts, and
numerous other tools and utilities. In addition to the CD
player, Microsoft Office will require a hard disk, System
6.02 or higher, HyperCard 1.2.2 and at least 2 Mbytes of RAM
(4 Mbytes recommended). - MacWeek 8 August
Word Bug Fix.
Microsoft is planning to issue a maintenance release by
early Fall of the latest version of Word (5.0 shipped last
April). The update will resolve some idiosyncrasies between
5.0 and previous versions as well as a number of reported
problems with the new version. - PC Week 14 August
HyperCard Update.
HyperCard 1.2.2 is not compatible with the LapMac of the 25
MHz Mac IIci. Both will ship with version 1.2.3 which will
merely add support for the new Mac models and will not
include any major enhancements. - MacWeek 8 August
2 Mbyte Data Card.
Canon has unveiled new optical credit card data storage
technology that will permit up to 2 Mbytes of information
including pictures, X-rays, and fingerprints to be stored
along with alphanumeric data. Unlike today's magnetic card
strips, which are affected by magnets, and integrated
circuit cards, which can be erased by static electricity,
the Write Once, Read Many times (WORM) optical cards are not
susceptible to environmental electro-magnetism. Canon plans
to ship models of the Optical Card System by next January
with volume production slated by 1991. The Reader/Writer
drive will sell for between $1,500 and $2,000 and the cards
themselves will be about $5.00 each. - PC Week 24 July
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From: "David K. Ely" <dely@NRI.Reston.VA.US>
Subject: Re: Looking for admin contact for mcimail.com
The Internet<->MCI Mail Gateway is an experimental mail system being
developed by the Corporation for National Research Initiatives (NRI),
a non-profit research organization. NRI is currently researching
interconnecting various mail services.
Currently, there is no charge for sending mail from the Internet to MCI Mail.
In order to send mail to users on MCI Mail, use one of the following addresses:
accountname@mcimail.com
-or-
mci_id@mcimail.com
-or-
full_user_name@mcimail.com
For instance, I have a mailbox on MCI Mail. You could send mail to me
via either dely@mcimail.com or 379-3286@mcimail.com or David_Ely@mcimail.com.
Users on MCI Mail can also send messages to the Internet. At the "Command:"
prompt, type "create <carriage return>. Then the user performs the following:
(NOTE the "TO:", "EMS:" and "MBX:" strings are prompts provided by MCI Mail.
Command: create <return>
TO: David K. Ely (EMS)
EMS: INTERNET
MBX: dely@NRI.Reston.VA.US
This address is translated to:
"David K. Ely" <dely@NRI.Reston.VA.US> by the Gateway.
Mail sent from MCI Mail to the Internet is charged by MCI Mail.
One final note: Feel free to use the gateway as often as you'd like, but
be forewarned: The gateway is still not considered fully
operational; sometimes mail will be delayed (usually less
than 24 hours.)
If you have any more questions, or if I can be of further assistance, please
feel free to email me.
David K. Ely
Manager, EMS Systems
Corporation for National Research Initiatives (NRI)
Phone: US: (703) 620-8990
Internet Mail: dely@NRI.Reston.VA.US
MCI Mail: dely
Murph Sewall Vaporware? ---> [Gary Larson returns 1/1/90]
Prof. of Marketing Sewall@UConnVM.BITNET
Business School sewall%uconnvm.bitnet@cunyvm.cuny.edu [INTERNET]
U of Connecticut {psuvax1 or mcvax }!UCONNVM.BITNET!SEWALL [UUCP]
(203) 486-5246 [FAX] (203) 486-2489 [PHONE] 41 49N 72 15W [ICBM]
The opposite of artificial intelligence is genuine stupidity!
-+- I don't speak for my employer, though I frequently wish that I could
(subject to change without notice; void where prohibited)karl@triceratops.cis.ohio-state.edu (Karl Kleinpaste) (08/28/89)
sewall@uconnvm.bitnet writes:
Last month's "scoop" was about the Internet gateway to Compu$erve...
Perhaps I'm missing something important, but I find it very difficult
to understand how anyone can claim to have "gotten the scoop" on a bit
of information which was announced to the entire Usenet plus the
entire subscribership of info-nets@think.com some 6+ weeks ago.
Of course, I also failed to understand why the existence of the
gateway appeared in a "rumors" column (PCWeek) _after_ that same
announcement. So perhaps I'm a bit slow. Or perhaps I just don't
understand things that are ugly and media-marketing-like (with
apologies for the redundancy).
--Karl
Gateway instigator