NeXT Nugget News Digest (vol. 3, issue 4, June 10, 1992) Hello, This is vol. 3, issue 4 of the 1992 NeXT NUGGET NEWS DIGEST - a collection of items of interest for NeXT User Group members. Information on how to retrieve copies of past NUGGET DIGEST issues appears below. There are more than 330 NeXT User Groups in 34 countries around the world. If you wish to start a new NeXT user group locally or if you have a NeXT User Group but have not registered it, please send email to user_groups@next.com. Any changes in leadership should also be sent along. Conrad Geiger Manager, International NeXT User Groups ________________________________________________________________ Table of Contents I. Final Call for submissions: NeXTSTEP Object Catalog II. Where to find past issues of the NeXT Nugget News Digest III. Mesa Spreadsheet beta test offer IV. Fortune 500 Consulting Firm Makes NeXT Move V. Announcing Craftsman, Multimedia Programming NeXT tool VI. Electronics Magazine charts Industry Growth Rate for 1991 VII. NeXT Communications, TCP/IP Position Open in San Francisco ________________________________________________________________ I. Final Call for submissions: NeXTSTEP Object Catalog Extension to Friday, June 12, 1992 The response to the first-ever NeXTSTEP Object Catalog has been outstanding. Due to popular demand, we are extending the deadline for submissions one final time until midnight Friday, June 12, 1992. Dear NeXTSTEP Object Designers: In July of this year, NeXT will publish the first-ever "object" guide. The guide will promote all the fantastic NeXTSTEP objects currently available, both commercially and through the public domain. At the same time, it will help educate customers and the entire industry about the benefits of NeXTSTEP objects and object-oriented technology. NeXT is clearly the object-oriented leader: NeXTSTEP is the only object-oriented system software shipping today. To get the word out, we'd like to release an outstanding guide filled with descriptions of the objects written by developers and users alike. That's where we'd like your help. You can leave an indelible mark on the NeXTSTEP object community by submitting descriptions of your objects for listing in our guide. It's simple. Just complete the attached form and return it to slove@next.com by Friday, June 12, 1992. Your submission(s) will then appear in it, which will reach thousands of current and prospective NeXTSTEP users and developers throughout the world. So get your listings to us today, and help spread the word about NeXTSTEP objects. If you are not currently developing NeXTSTEP objects but know people who are, please forward this message on to them. Please use the template provided below for your submissions. Objects are being solicited in the following categories (feel free to suggest categories we may have missed): UI Objects Information Display Objects Foundation Category Methods Analytical Tools (includes objects to be used with Mathematica) Networking & Telecommunications Objects Device Driver & Communications Objects Multimedia Objects Document & Publishing Objects Database Objects Financial Objects Tools & Utilities -- General Business Graphics Digitized Sound Graphics 3D & Rendering Tools Voice & Speech Objects Telephony & ISDN Objects Text & Language Tools Scripting & Macro Objects Indexing & Retrieval Objects Workflow Objects Thanks from everyone at NeXT! ____________________________________________ TEMPLATE FOR CATALOG SUBMISSIONS Object Category: Name of Object: Product description here (up to 100 words): Company Name or University Street Address City, State, Zip code, Country Phone: E-Mail address: Pricing Information (including educational discount, if applicable): Source code available: Support available: On-line Help (if a UI object): Documentation Availability: Localization Support: Availability: _____________________________________________________________ II. Where to find past issues of the NeXT Nugget News Digest Since the Fall of 1991, 15 issues of the NeXT Nugget News Digest have been distributed to the growing number of NeXT User Groups. To be included in its electronic distribution, please send email to user_groups@next.com. Due to popular demand, past issues of the NeXT Nugget News Digest are archived and updated quarterly on the Purdue archive server - sonata.cc.purdue.edu located on the internet. Look in /pub/next/Newsletters/nugget for the Fall 1991 and Winter 1992 archived releases: -rw-r--r-- 52968 Apr 1 17:46 1991Q4.tar.Z (5 issues) -rw-r--r-- 63467 Apr 1 17:46 1992Q1.tar.Z (6 issues) The Spring 1992 (1992Q2) copy will be submitted at the end of June. ____________________________________________________________ III. Mesa Spreadsheet beta test offer From: dpp@athena.com Subject: Mesa Beta Call Mesa, the spreadsheet for NeXTstep, alpha version 0.7 is now on the archives at sonata.cc.purdue.edu (128.210.15.30), cs.orst.edu (128.193.32.1) and etlport.etl.go.jp (192.31.197.99). I have placed the program in the submissions directory at each site and expect that they will be moved into the demo directories at each site within a week. I look forward to constructive comments about the program and it's functionality. If you have criticism, please also include ways of doing things better. Also, please read the release notes. They explain a number of unfinished parts of the program. If your site has at least 25 NeXT machines, prior experience with spreadsheet products, and a specific application for Mesa, Athena Design may consider you as a Beta site. The Beta program begins on July 1st and includes unlimited toll-free technical support. Please e-mail feedback or Beta information to dpp@athena.com. Thanks. David Email: dpp@athena.com _____________________________________________________________ IV. Fortune 500 Consulting Firm Makes NeXT Move FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For more information: Pam O'Neal Pencom Software (512) 343-1111 e-mail: pam@pencom.com FORTUNE 500 CONSULTING FIRM MAKES NeXT MOVE Pencom Assists With Migration To New Network That Combines NeXT, RS/6000 Austin, Texas (May 26, 1992) -- Pencom Software, a leader in Open Systems computing services and contract software development, has been selected by New York City-based Organization Resources Counselors, Inc. (ORC) to design and implement a new corporate computing environment that combines NeXT Computer Inc.'s NeXTstation Turbo computer with IBM's RISC System/6000. The initial phase of the contract, due to be completed in December, calls for Pencom to install a network of 35 NeXTstation Turbo systems at ORC's New York City headquarters office. A second phase will encompass up to 90 more of the same workstations to be installed in New York and at other ORC facilities. The NeXT desktop systems will be connected to multiple RS/6000s running AIX 3.2 and ORC's human resources databases. As a NeXT-authorized commercial systems integrator, Pencom focuses on providing solutions for NeXT workstation users operating in heterogeneous computing environments. ORC is an international management and human resources consulting firm that has fulfilled assignments with most of the U.S.'s Fortune 500 firms, many international companies, and numerous other organizations. ORC is the world leader in advising companies in international compensation issues, and part of this service involves the ongoing collection and analysis of cost-of-living information from regions around the world. The information, stored in the ORC database, is provided to clients to enable them to pay employees transferring on expatriate assignmentfrom one country to another. "We recommended NeXT as the desktop solution for ORC because we believe NeXT offers the best set of tools to operate a service business," said Ed Taylor, president of Pencom Software. "The NeXT interface is easy to use, yet the system is also powerful. And the RS/6000, with its speed and storage advantages, is ideal for handling the core of ORC's business -- their database." When the decision was made to upgrade ORC's information systems, the combined NeXT/IBM environment was not exactly what company officials initially anticipated installing, said Tobi Weitzner, the ORC vice president who is in charge of the migration project. "Frankly, we weren't familiar enough with NeXT, the company, to understand the value of their systems. And though the RS/6000 is becoming more and more popular, we did not originally consider it as an appropriate option for us. Yet when we compared these systems to the more traditional choices, we felt the NeXTstation Turbo and the RS/6000 -- with their ease-of-use, power, and support -- offered the optimum solution for our situation." Once the computer systems were selected, ORC's most important task then became finding an appropriate integrator, said Weitzner. "Pencom was a natural choice due to their extensive experience with both NeXT and IBM RS/6000 machines. The fact that they themselves utilize NeXT machines throughout their offices was an added plus," she said. Pencom is now in the process of managing ORC's migration to the NeXT. ORC will phase out an IBM 4341 mainframe computer and a number of PCs as Pencom ports many of the company's other important tools and programs to the new environment. ORC accepted bids from several independent consultants before selecting Pencom for the integration project. Pencom Software offers software connectivity products and off-site development, porting, testing and quality assurance services from its headquarters in Austin, Texas. The company is a division of Pencom Systems Incorporated, the largest recruiting, placement and contract programming firm specializing in the UNIX/Open Systems market. Pencom employs over 400 people and has offices in New York, Austin, San Jose, Boston and Reston, VA. For more information, contact Pencom Software 9050 Capital of Texas Highway North Suite 300, Austin, Texas 78759. Telephone: 512/343-1111. Fax: 512/343-9650. E-mail: pam@pencom.com ______________________________________________________________ V. Announcing Craftsman, Multimedia Programming NeXT Tool Xanthus International AB presents CraftMan - the Multimedia Programming Tool for the NeXT Computer (June 1, 1992) Xanthus International AB today announces CraftMan - the multimedia programming tool for the NeXT Computer. With CraftMan you can design complete multimedia applications for the NeXT computer without having to program in Objective-C. This includes designing the interface with direct manipulation and writing CraftScript-code for program control. CraftMan is a tool very much inspired by HyperCard for the Apple Macintosh, but CraftMan is much more than a HyperCard clone. CraftMan is the perfect tool for: - building real multimedia applications for the NeXT - creating impressive presentations - creating computer-based training applications - building graphical interfaces to other applications - rapid prototyping of applications with real functionality Behind the intuitive interface is hidden a powerful object oriented environment and an object oriented scripting language called CraftScript. CraftMan programs can communicate with each other and with other NeXTSTEP applications by sending CraftScript messages. No Objective-C programming is needed! CraftMan is delivered with a runtime version that makes it easy to freely distribute CraftMan programs to other NeXT users. Status: Shipping For more information about CraftMan please contact: Xanthus International AB Kungstensgatan 14 S-113 57 Stockholm Sweden fax: +46-8-612 89 96 mail: craftman@xanthus.se ______________________________________________________________ VI. Electronics Magazine charts Industry Growth Rate for 1991 The following statistics appeared in the April, 1992 issue of Electronics Magazine: Unit Growth Rate (1990-91) 1. NeXT 133% 2. IBM 58% 3. SGI 45% 4. Sun 30% 5. HP 6% 6. Digital -1.6% ______________________________________________________________ VII. NeXT Communications, TCP/IP Position Open in San Francisco Job Title & Location NeXT Communications, TCP/IP, SF area We have a client developing communications software for the NeXT platform. If you have a background in communications such as developing a commercial terminal emulation package, knowledge of Unix and TCP/IP please send a resume to: David A. Small, President Scientific Placement, Inc., Box 19949, Houston, TX 77224 713-496-6100 Fax: 713-496-6802 Internet: das@scientific.com; Compuserve: 71250,3001; AppleLink: D1580; Genie: D.SMALL6; AOL: DaveSmall; BIX: Scientific Formats: Ascii text via Email preferred. Macintosh or PC Word processor formats are OK via Email (binhex). Please do not send LaTex or Postscript.Fax is discouraged unless Fine Setting on your fax machine is used (to enable OCR scanning). US Mail on 3.5 inch diskette is OK too. Immigration status: You must be a U.S. or Canadian Citizen or have a Permanent Residence Visa. New graduates: Employers utilize the college placement offices to hire new graduates. They do not employ recruiting firms for this purpose. We are unable to assist recent graduates. ____________________________________________________________