SEWALL@UCONNVM.BITNET (Murph Sewall) (05/28/89)
VAPORWARE
Murphy Sewall
From the June 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
Apple Operating System Upgrades.
Apple has announced System Software 5.0 for the IIgs
(release date this Summer) and System 7.0 for Macintosh
systems with a minimum of 2 Mbytes of RAM (release date
first quarter 1990). The new IIgs system includes AppleTalk
access and generally improved performance. Software written
for the new ExpressLoad development tools will load up to
four times faster than current versions. The big news about
Macintosh System 7.0 is virtual memory (protected mode
multitasking is expected in version 8.0 currently planned
for 1991), but the Interapplications Communications (IAC)
architecture may be as important. Applications written
using the IAC tools will be able to dynamically share data
among applications (either running in other windows at a
single workstation or on another workstation in a network).
A Macintosh with either a 68030 processor or a 68551 memory
management unit and a 68020 will be required to implement
virtual memory. Rumors say Apple will by-pass A/Ux 1.2 and
await version 2.0 (under development under the code name
"Space Cadet") in about a year.
- Apple Press Releases 5 and 9 May and
MacWeek 2, 9, and 16 May
Future of MS-DOS.
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has told members of the Boston
Computer Society that his company is working on another
major upgrade (5.0) of the DOS operating system. He also
said Microsoft plans to remove the operating system's
current memory constraint. A 32-bit (80386) version of OS/2
which also will be i486 compatible is scheduled for release
sometime next year. - InfoWorld 1 May and PC Week 8 May
Floptical Drives For the People.
Quadram of Norcross, Georgia plans to begin shipping Brier's
25 Mbyte (21.4 Mbytes formatted) floptical disk drives (see
last January's column) on September 1. An internal model
($800) and an external model ($1,000) will be offered under
the brand name QuadFlextra. Media will retail for $20 a
disk. A 50 Mbyte drive (43.2 Mbytes formatted) which also
will read standard 720 Kbyte and 1.44 Mbyte 3.5 inch disks
is anticipated by next January. - PC Week 1 May
Apple Product Announcements.
Current plans call for multiple network product
announcements on June 12 including TokenTalk, a NuBus
token-ring adapter, for the Macintosh II family (available
by the third quarter of the fiscal year for between $1,200
and $1,300). The schedule for the LapMac has slipped again
(what else is new?), and introduction of the 25 MHz IIcx
(see last month's column) also has been delayed. Apple
plans to announce both in time for the Christmas selling
season - that is, by October 15. By year's end, look for an
announcement of a 33 MHz 68030 Mac scheduled for limited
production as early as next January. The current Mac SE and
SE-30 will be replaced by the end of 1990 by a similar color
Mac. - MacWeek 25 April and 16 May
The Unknown Computer.
This summer IBM will officially introduce a "personal
mainframe" which Big Blue has been selling since last
August, but only to customers who requested it. The
MCA-based Personal System/370 combines a PS/2 Model 60 or 80
with a $25,000 computer formally titled the 7437 VM/SP
Technical Workstation. The Personal System/370 runs VM/SP 5
and CMS. - PC Week 24 April
EISA Hardware.
Demonstration prototypes of the first Extended Industry
Standard Architecture (AT-bus card compatible) computers and
32-bit add-in boards should finally be ready by mid-summer.
Volume shipping of the new computers should begin about the
time of Fall Comdex. - PC Week 1 May
Faster Math Coprocessors.
Integrated Information Technology has announced plug and
object code compatible math coprocessors to compete with
Intel's 80287 and 80387 chips. The IIT-2C87 is twice as
fast as the 80287 and the IIT-3C87 is 50 percent faster than
the 80387 (they execute floating point instructions in fewer
clock cycles). Volume quantities are scheduled for the
third quarter at prices which match Intel's.
- InfoWorld 24 April
If the i486 Isn't Fast Enough.
If you long for even more power than offered by the i486
PC's which will begin arriving next year (see last month's
column), you'll be able to get an immediate two to threefold
performance gain by adding a floating-point coprocessor from
Weitek. The Abacus 4167 chip is expected to be available in
sample quantities in September with full production planned
for next February. A $1,000 retail price is anticipated.
- PC Week 8 May and InfoWorld 8 May
Upward Compatible.
Cheetah International has announced a 33 MHz 80386 computer
for the third quarter this year that is designed for an easy
plug-in upgrade to an i486 system - InfoWorld 24 April
Lap Atari.
If you've grown tired of waiting forever for a LapMac, Atari
expects to begin offering a 15 pound portable version of the
popular ST, known as Stacy, this month. The Stacy laptop
has an 8 MHz 68C000, 1 Mbyte of RAM, a 640 by 400 supertwist
LCD display, and a track ball to serve as a mouse. The
rechargeable battery pack has a capacity of five to eight
hours. A single floppy version has a list price of $1,495
while a Stacy with a 20 Mbyte hard disk will retail for
$1,995. - InfoWorld 24 April
Laptop RISC Workstation?
Sun has licensed its S-bus technology to Mission Cyrus, a
Vancouver, BC start-up which is hard at work on a SPARC
portable. Mission Cyrus hopes to introduce a portable RISC
workstation early next year. - InfoWorld 24 April
8 Mbyte Spreadsheet Anyone?
Microsoft Excel Version 2.2 for the Macintosh is due to ship
before the end of the second quarter. The new release
averages 40 percent faster than the current version (1.5)
and can address up to 8 Mbytes of memory. Excel 2.2 is
functionally compatible with the MS-DOS Windows version (the
two products share 80 percent of their code), and a
Presentation Manager version is under development. Excel's
graphics still pale by comparison to those produced by
Informix's Wingz. - MacWeek 2 May
MS-DOS Software from Claris?
Although Claris officials deny it, rumors persist that, once
the firm goes public, there will be a Windows version of
FileMaker. Claris is a licensed Windows developer and
Windows FileMaker code was obtained when the company
purchased Nashoba software. - MacWeek 25 April
New Language Products.
Borland is suspending work on Turbo Basic and Turbo ProLog
in order to concentrate on Turbo Pascal, C, and Assembler.
Meanwhile, Microsoft is planning a continuing string of
announcements for new versions of Quick Pascal, Quick
Assembler, and professional C. - InfoWorld 15 May
Norton Utilities for the Mac.
Peter Norton is about to release a book tentatively titled
"Inside the Macintosh," and a package of disk management and
data recovery utilities for the Mac is under development for
release "in this decade" (purists will note that 1990 is the
last year in the current decade). - MacWeek 25 April
Bits of Data.
Apple's unit sales of personal computers in 1988 exceeded
IBM's for the first time since the IBM-PC was introduced in
1981. According to the Software Publishers Association,
educational software sales in 1988 were: Macintosh $5
million, Commodore $5.4 million, Apple II $80.0 million
(that is, if Apple does drop that II line, buy stock in
Video Technologies -- makers of the successful series of
Laser 128 Apple clones). IBM has been referred to in this
column and elsewhere as "Big Blue" for years, but the
company didn't get around to registering the nickname until
last year. Now IBM's lawyers are trying to get computer
products distributor Big Blue Products (incorporated in
1984) to stop using the name (nearly as much fun at the
Beatles' Apple Corp record label trying to keep Apple
Computer from putting it's name on "musical" products like
the IIgs).
- InfoWorld 15 May, MacWeek 16 May, and InCider June
Murph Sewall Vaporware? ---> [Gary Larson returns 1/1/90]
Prof. of Marketing Sewall@UConnVM.BITNET
Business School sewall%uconnvm.bitnet@mitvma.mit.edu [INTERNET]
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